Report: Police Took 4 1/2 Hours to Reach Scene

Anaheim police investigators took 4 1/2 hours--much longer than first believed--to reach the scene of a fatal injury at a Disneyland ride Christmas Eve, according to police reports released Thursday.

The reports reveal a new timeline and details of the police investigation into an accident that killed a Washington man and injured his wife and a Disneyland employee.

Police took about three hours longer than first reported to get to the Mark Twain dock in Frontierland, where an 8-pound cleat from the sailing ship Columbia had ripped off during docking and was flung into a crowd waiting to board the ride.

Police Capt. Steve Sain said the initial call to police from paramedics indicated no officers would be needed for what was described as multiple injuries. Later on, he said, officers approached the incident as an industrial accident, not as a possible crime. That made it less necessary to reach the scene quickly, he said.

In accidents, police frequently try to get information first before approaching such scenes mainly to avoid misinterpreting or disturbing evidence, Sain said.

The first uniformed patrolman arrived at Disneyland offices at 11:23 a.m., nearly an hour after the 10:40 a.m. accident, after a cleanup of the scene was well underway, according to police dispatch logs. He stayed in the security office and never went to the scene.

Investigators arrived at the park about 1:30 p.m. and went to the security office for a briefing. The first investigator reached the dock at 3:05 p.m., according to the police reports.

Sain said it is “absolutely standard procedure” for uniformed officers to stay in the security office and wait for Disneyland guards to bring them victims, suspects or others for interviews.

Disneyland employees were well into cleaning up the dock and collecting the cleat and other evidence before the first officer arrived at park offices. By the time investigators reached the dock, the cleanup was complete. Park officials said they acted quickly to keep other visitors from viewing the scene.

“Prior to my arrival, the items from the accident had been removed and the area cleaned up of any blood and paramedic debris,” wrote James Conley, the forensic supervisor.

Conley also noted that the mooring line had been removed from the scene.

The mooring line played an important part in the accident, according to Disneyland spokesman Ray Gomez. He said the 1 1/2-inch line made from synthetic material was designed to snap if the Columbia approached the dock too fast and put too much stress on the line.

Instead, when assistant manager Christine Carpenter attached the line, it wrenched the cleat free from the ship’s bow. The cleat hit Luan Phi Dawson, 33, and his wife, Lieu Thuy Vuong, 43, of Duvall, Wash.

Dawson, a computer programmer, was pronounced dead two days later of brain hemorrhaging from a fractured skull. Vuong is recovering from severe head injuries.

Carpenter, 30, suffered severe foot injuries when the cleat pulled loose and the line whipsawed around. She is recovering after surgery to reconstruct her foot. The state Department of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the accident because the Disneyland worker was involved.

Sain reiterated earlier police statements that detectives could have gone directly to the scene had they wished.

In the reports released Thursday, Disneyland workers recount how a common docking mix-up turned to a scene of carnage on the dock.

The Columbia’s helmsman, Matthew B. Childress, 22, of Anaheim, told Det. John Duran that he knew as he brought the ship in that it was moving too fast for the docking line to be attached.

Childress said he assumed they would overshoot the dock and then back up for proper mooring--a standard procedure when the ship moves too fast.

Childress said he never heard co-workers say “bow line secure,” as they are supposed to do when the mooring line is attached. Instead, he said, he heard a “loud pop.”

Police determined that no sabotage or criminal negligence had occurred and closed the inquiry.