Steve Burns
WMAL.com
GAITHERSBURG – (WMAL) Montgomery County’s Police Chief is responding to criticisms from the family of a Bethesda teenager found dead in a stream last month, defending his department’s investigation. Navid Sepehri’s father has accused Montgomery County Police of being evasive, but Chief Tom Manger denies withholding any information.
“We’re trying to be as transparent and as open as we can, while still respecting the difficult time they’re going through,” Manger told WMAL. “We make sure that the family has all their questions answered.”
Manger’s department has come under fire following revelations from the investigation into Sepehri’s death last month. Sepehri was found dead in a stream behind a swim club in Bethesda on Dec. 10. Police later said they had encountered the intoxicated 17-year-old at a house party the evening prior, but let him go after they were told partygoers had rides on the way.
Navid’s father, Frank, said police officers at a local station refused to file a missing person report when he first visited them early the next morning, and were no help in searching for his son, until Frank found his son’s body later that day.
“The police have done nothing for us. Zero,” Sepehri told WMAL. “I don’t know what this investigation of four weeks has been.”
Sepehri maintained he is always the last to know of any new developments, something Manger disputed.
“I know that my folks would have the family be the first ones that were notified,” Manger said.
The medical examiner ruled Navid’s death an accident, the result of drinking, drowning, and hypothermia. Police said earlier this week that a bottle of vodka and two fake IDs were found on Navid.
Had police detained his son in that first encounter, none of this would’ve happened, Frank said.
“Of course,” Sepehri said, when asked if his son should’ve been arrested. “He’s drunk. He’s out on the street. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. If you excuse his (drunkenness), he had alcohol in his pocket. Everything is there. Why can’t you arrest him?”
Asked that question, Manger said laws prevent a search and detainment in that situation.
“Years ago, if you were drunk and underage, you could be charged with a crime. Those days are long gone,” Manger said. “We could not have taken his son into custody. We had no legal grounds to search his son, and we had no legal grounds to hold him and prevent him from leaving.”
Manger said they are still investigating certain aspects of the case, including why a missing person report was not filed after Sepehri’s initial visit to his local police station.
“With regard to any allegation that we’re not doing an accurate, impartial investigation, that just, frankly, is not the case,” he said. “I don’t want to get into a public debate about our communication with them. They have been through enough, and we are doing nothing but trying to be responsive and give them the information that they need.”
Sepehri said the letter he sent out to the local neighborhood looking for any relevant information has garnered hundreds of responses, some with new details he had not heard from the police.
“The police is not telling me the information these neighbors are telling me…it’s two different stories,” Sepehri said. “Every single person knows that this is the police’s fault.”
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