Washington Township Firefighters and Police Recognized by Washington Township Committee
Story by: Mark Moffa, Messenger Press: http://www.messengerpress.com
WASHINGTON — Police Sgt.
Dominick Botteri was getting coffee. Officer Chris Nitti was on patrol. Both
were working 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shifts, which, on a Monday night, are usually
quiet hours.
The dispatcher received a call at 11:57 p.m. that October
night. It was "a domestic," as they say in the business. A report of a
domestic dispute in the 100-block of Wyndham Place in Foxmoor. Possible
injuries.
"You never know what to expect," Sgt. Botteri said.
"But you're thinking about a restraining order and the paperwork
involved."
They did not expect to see a woman covered with blood from
head to toe, standing at the top of townhouse's stairs, while the husband who
allegedly stabbed her was still in the house with the weapon.
Officer Nitti and Sgt. Botteri received recognition May 24
from the Township Committee for, as Mayor Dave Fried put it, performing
"above and beyond the call of duty in saving the lives of two township
residents."
The firefighters who later worked to keep the couple alive
until ambulances arrived also were awarded plaques from the committee June 14.
The firefighters — Lt. Dennis Williams, Jason Palmer, Steven Kadir and Frank
Petrangeli Jr. — and the police officers received special accolades from state
Assembly members Linda Greenstein and Gary Guear June 28.
Sgt. Botteri arrived seconds before Officer Nitti around
midnight Oct. 16. Male and female voices could be heard screaming and arguing.
The officers announced themselves repeatedly, knocking
fervently. It didn't seem to matter. They were about to break in the door when
Angela LaSalle appeared, maneuvered down the stairs and opened it for them.
"She told us her husband stabbed her," Sgt. Botteri
said.
One of the police officers grabbed the radio mounted on his
shoulder and said, "We need ALS," a one-second phrase that tells the
dispatcher that advanced life support personnel is needed.
The Washington Township Fire Department and Allentown First
Aid Squad were dispatched.
Mrs. LaSalle was taken aside. The officers drew their weapons,
and ascended the stairs in a surreal scene more appropriate for a Hollywood
movie set than Washington Township.
"You don't have time to think anything," the
sergeant said. Somewhere in his mind, however, he was thinking this might be the
first time in his 20-year career that he would have to shoot a man.
They found Thomas LaSalle laying flat on his back with a knife
sticking out of his throat. A further search revealed no one else in the house.
Sgt. Botteri went downstairs to stay with Mrs. LaSalle. He was
talking to her when she passed out, seconds before the Fire Department arrived.
Lt. Williams saw the blood — a trail of it down the stairs.
Crimson puddles sat wherever Mrs. LaSalle paused on the stairs, and bright red
palm prints scarred a neighbor's door.
Mr. Petrangeli, a volunteer who happened to be in the station
when the call came in, stared at the scene. Having just received his EMT
certification four months before, Mr. Petrangeli wondered where the other bodies
were. All of that blood couldn't have come from one person, he thought. But it
did.
There was no time to waste. Mr. Petrangeli worked with Mr.
Palmer and Mr. Kadir to save Mrs. LaSalle's life. They instinctively followed
the ABCs of emergency medical service — airways, breathing, circulation. Mr.
Palmer and Mr. Petrangeli started breathing for her with a bivalve mask and bag,
and Mr. Kadir was trying the best he could to stop the bleeding.
"A lot of people that close, you don't end up saving,
unfortunately," Mr. Palmer said. "She was really fighting for every
breath."
Meanwhile, Lt. Williams was upstairs with Mr. LaSalle, a man
who today faces attempted murder and other weapons charges.
He was fighting Lt. Williams — Mr. LaSalle wanted the knife
removed. The lieutenant asked him to pray, and when Mr. LaSalle put his hands
together Lt. Williams grabbed them, preventing him from reaching for the knife.
Officer Nitti was running back and forth for Lt. Williams,
grabbing medical supplies from the truck so the firefighter could save the man's
life. While talking to Mr. LaSalle, Lt. Williams said it became pretty evident
to him that Mr. LaSalle stabbed his wife and himself.
On a night like that, a minute seems to last a lifetime. After
several lifetimes passed without an ambulance or paramedic crew on the scene, an
additional request was placed for the nearest personnel.
An ambulance from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at
Hamilton arrived and whisked Mrs. LaSalle to Capital Health System's Fuld Campus
in Trenton, where a surgeon said if she arrived just a few seconds later she
would have been dead.
"It was a great team effort that night," Mr. Palmer
said.
The links, Lt. Williams said, from the person who called 911,
to the police officers, to the firefighters, to the paramedics, to the ambulance
crew, and to the hospital personnel were critical that night.
"If there was a break in any of those links," he
said, "Angela would have been lost."
Today, nine months after the stabbing, she still is recovering
from life-altering injuries. She may never walk again. Doctors said Mrs.
LaSalle's brain stopped receiving oxygen for an unknown period of time.
Mr. LaSalle, who was indicted for attempted murder by a grand
jury in February, is being held in the Mercer County Detention Center on
$500,000 bail. He is prohibited from having any contact with Mrs. LaSalle or her
family.
The next status conference for his impending trial is Monday.
The charge of attempted murder carries a 10- to 20-year
sentence if convicted. Under "no early release" legislation, he would
have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence (or eight and a half to 18
years).
His lawyer said Mr. LaSalle intends to plead insanity, saying
he was driven to a breakdown after discovering his wife was having an affair.
The LaSalles were undergoing marital difficulties. A friend of
the couple said the LaSalles, who were married for two years, were living apart
at the time of the attack. Mrs. LaSalle had been staying with friends and
returned to the Wyndham Place residence Oct. 16 to pick up clothes.
Mrs. LaSalle told the friend earlier that same night she was
hopeful the couple could reach an amicable end to their relationship, the friend
said, but added that she was "afraid" of what Mr. LaSalle might do.
Mrs. LaSalle, whose maiden name was Wiggs, was a reporter for
The Messenger-Press for almost two years and worked for other Princeton Packet
publications before leaving the company in February 1998. At the time of the
incident she was working for the Division of the Ratepayer Advocate's Office in
Newark, representing the interests of utility consumers.
The police officers and firefighters on the scene that night
were singled out by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office for saving Mrs.
LaSalle's life.
"It's nice to get a pat on the back, but that's not why
you really do the job," Lt. Williams said.
"It'll be a night I'll never forget," Mr. Palmer
added. "We don't see a whole lot of stabbing calls in Washington
Township."
Sgt. Botteri said he started writing his report at 3 a.m. so
as not to forget any details. He still recalls the events rather vividly.
"That's probably the worst thing I've ever seen,"
Sgt. Botteri said. "Something like that really stays with you."
"It was tough to fall asleep when I got home,"
Officer Nitti said.
Both officers said it was nice to receive recognition for
their efforts, but that something else was much more valuable to them.
Detective Vincent Estelle returned from a visit with Mrs.
LaSalle one day to report that she wished to thank the officers for saving her
life.
"That was worth more than any award," Officer Nitti
said.