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[Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thank you
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for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man with a Michael Scott plasma TV on his wall he
00:01:55
is the captain that's right want to be a baller shot call it's good to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for
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listening thanks for telling a [Music] friend today I am pumped because we are featuring $129 T by the brilliant women
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just going to name drop everybody all right shout out to to the Avengers and a big shout out to Michelle and Maple
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cheers to our good friend Stacy s and Parts Unknown everybody that we just mentioned with the exception of the
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are very grateful we need to do another run of those parts Unknown t-shirts they
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everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music]
00:04:28
a according to statistics reported to the FBI 106 law enforcement officers were killed in line of duty incidents in
00:04:39
2018 of these 55 officers died as a result of fonus Acts and 51 officers died in accidents fbi.gov cites 19
00:04:51
different circumstances in which the 55 officers were feloniously killed of those two officers were listed as killed
00:05:00
while conducting traffic violation stops and two others that were killed were involved in vehicle
00:05:07
Pursuits so you can see thankfully this is a rare occurrence this week we take a hard look
00:05:15
at a case that involves a traffic violation stop a vehicle Pursuit and the murder of an officer but this in the
00:05:23
line of duty incident resulted in two deaths and with much of the incident recorded a dash camera in the officer's
00:05:31
police vehicle why are we left with so many questions the dash cam footage was later
00:05:38
released on the internet and on YouTube it has been viewed over 1.4 million times this no doubt is an extremely
00:05:46
tragic and horrific story however one would think this would be a simple open and shut
00:05:54
case but this is just not so there is little doubt that bad behavior and bad blood was the fuel for murder but does
00:06:04
this True Crime Story have a hero or was there more than one murderer at this crime scene and was the Fallen officer a
00:06:13
good cop a bad cop or possibly an evil man with a [Music] badge [Music] [Music] it was a cold dark snowy night in late
00:06:46
January 2003 this in New Hampshire when Franconia police Corporal Bruce McCay was driving his usual Patrol route when
00:06:57
he spotted an older model White Subaru in the parking lot at the entrance of the Fox Hill Park now special note here
00:07:05
this is an area that is surrounded by Woods the Subaru was parked engine off and lights off it appeared to be
00:07:15
abandoned McKay called in the license plate and learned that the car belonged to a Michelle Kenny McKay got out of his
00:07:23
vehicle and approached the Subaru he spotted a young man sitting inside with the driver seat reclined all the way
00:07:31
back this was 19-year-old Leo Kenny he told officer McKay that he was just waiting for some friends to come back
00:07:39
from a Super Bowl party then Leo started the engine and asked the officer for his
00:07:46
name at this officer MCC requested that Leo hand over his driver's license and that it was the last normal thing that
00:07:55
happened in this confrontation which is viewable in its entirety thanks to the dash cam video and audio which is
00:08:03
available online yeah there's three videos or three parts to this arrest and then there's another video I will post
00:08:10
all four of those videos on our website at true Crim garage.com this is January 26 2003 at
00:08:19
8:39 p.m. if the dash cam clock is correct and on the first video the audio starts at 1 minute and 12 seconds so
00:08:29
when officer McKay requested Leo's license Leo initially refused to hand it over he wanted to know why the officer
00:08:37
wanted it he became combative and belligerent almost immediately arguing with the officer challenging McKay's
00:08:44
authority to take his license demanding that the officer's flashlight not be shined in his face maintaining that he
00:08:52
was allowed to sit in a public place undisturbed by police officer McKay finally got the license and took it back
00:09:01
to his Cruiser to run it when he saw the name on the license officer McKay said qu oh I was wondering why you had such
00:09:10
an attitude end quote clearly the name on the license was one familiar to the officer according to the book Bad Blood
00:09:21
McKay knew this family by reputation let's listen to a couple audio clips from this initial rest in 20
00:09:31
3 I do know my Kenny k y first of Le l i KO middle p and as you can tell I'm 10 19834
00:09:55
26 do we have uh I'm off at the park which is on Dow out get back in your car why are you
00:10:06
harassing me man can I just can I ask you why can't why can't I just askance what do not touch me don't plant
00:10:14
your hands on me I'm asking simp question get in the [ __ ] car do it my car get in my car your car what are you
00:10:20
doing Twi T my arm do not put your hands on me why are you putting your hands on
00:10:25
me I'm just asking you when do I get don't even think about that oh yes I'm going to take you to court for
00:10:32
harassment charges what are you doing I'm simply asking you I have my license back I'm giving you a direct order to
00:10:38
get into your car you can't order people around you're not [ __ ] God why are you giving me an order you have no
00:10:44
reason to order me around could I have another unit at this location please yeah can you have a state cough come
00:10:49
here I'm feeling harassed you're putting your hands on me you're telling me I have to sit in my car I don't know what
00:10:54
you're doing what are you doing you don't have that authority to know what's going on in my give me my license back
00:11:00
no why do you have my license why you put your hands on me why did you put your hands on me
00:11:07
because you should be sitting in my car right now why should I be sitting in your car right now because you're
00:11:11
disobeying an officer why is an officer even telling me to do anything why are you because you're not complying
00:11:18
complying with your orders you're not here to order people around you're here to Serve and Protect I'm here to
00:11:24
investigate and I'm here to protect that's right and it's not you investigate you investigate me
00:11:32
what that's it why you put your hands on me I told you why why did you put your hands on me to attempt to an arrest I
00:11:39
you not to put your hands on me you don't have that Authority I don't have the authority to tell someone not to put
00:11:44
their hands on me not as a police officer you have a re go down the street beating kids up you just go this next
00:11:52
clip is from part two of the rest in 2003 back in the car I'm requesting police get back in the get back in the car
00:12:04
request police assistant can I request look I have light sensitive eyes can you not Shine the Light In My Eyes please
00:12:10
have an officer come here to help me they're in they're responding go back inside I have to be somewhere as as it
00:12:15
can I please have an officer's assistant can I call you escalated this no I you took my license I asked you what your
00:12:23
name was you came back to my car you took my license I asked you when I could have my license back you wouldn't tell
00:12:29
me when I could have my license back all I asked you was when can I have my license back you wouldn't give me my
00:12:35
license back you still now you're preventing me from leaving I have to be back with my mom's car you're preventing
00:12:42
me from leaving you have my license right there why don't you give me my license and let me go home instead of
00:12:47
doing this why don't you give me police assistance I'm requesting police assistance do you not hear me can I
00:12:54
please have some police assistance you're torturing me why are you torturing me why are you
00:13:01
tormenting me what are you doing why are you harassing me can't you go arrest a drunk leave in the bar or
00:13:07
something why why bother me all I asked you was when could I have my license back because I have to get somewhere by
00:13:13
a certain time why are you harassing me are you denying me police assistance I'm requesting that you turn off the
00:13:24
light that's in my eyes and I'm requesting police assistance at this point Bruce M's backup shows up and
00:13:30
they're going to arrest Leo ohello can I please get some assistance this officer
00:13:35
here is harassing me he won't answer any of my questions I've been asking him he
00:13:40
took my license put your hands on the car no why are you doing this put your hands on the car what are you doing get
00:13:45
away do not touch me do not touch me I don't trust this officer please keep him away from me I he's been very threat me
00:13:51
he's put his hands on me all I've asked him as a return my license please please
00:13:54
don't touch me look look I haven't done anything look no stop touching me please
00:13:59
stop touching me not touching me let go of me let go of me wa out how my m i was
00:14:06
broken NE you're my stoping me stop what you stop resisting I ask for please stop please I need
00:14:26
help I want to me f me what are you doing get off of me help somebody help me IED I'll make
00:14:43
a my bastard you me in the p in the face help me somebody help me please all right
00:15:07
help me please I can't please get off of me please stop hurting me I didn't do anything I can't breathe with you on
00:15:22
compliment give him the hand what are you doing give him the hand ow what the [ __ ] are you doing Stu what the
00:15:33
[ __ ] are you doing to me okay we're going to stand you up now I need help this officer listen why are you guys
00:15:40
doing this to me you need to stop stop I'm going to get you up on your feet okay stop what did I do I'm going to
00:15:46
keep you up on your feet you need to come up and sit up okay what are you doing ow I've got your arm I know you have my
00:15:55
arm over on your knees what are you doing to me R over on your I'm not gay I will not let you what the hell are you
00:16:02
trying what the [ __ ] are you doing this to me on your KNE kill me no I want you
00:16:07
to stand up why are you doing this to me you're going into a cruiser from here what have I done I don't know I'm just
00:16:14
standing here asking for police assist and this cop's been hurting me on your knees what you guys doing to me I want
00:16:20
you on your knees you can stand up you want to cooperate you want to sit in the snow on my I would rather sit in the
00:16:27
snow all I want to be tortured you're torturing me already all I was doing was sitting here waiting why did
00:16:33
he put why are you doing this to me I asked for police assistant and you came and threw me to the ground I need help
00:16:40
from this I asked him for his name and he wouldn't respond I asked him what he was doing he wouldn't tell
00:16:48
me well that's fun on the old ears what we hear here Captain I think we need to do a little breakdown because
00:16:56
we just played a couple of Clips it's it's very lengthy if we were to play the whole thing hey stop molesting me and
00:17:04
it's a lot of a lot of back and forth a lot of annoying yelling but you can hear
00:17:10
how this whole thing is escalating as we go through it so basically what you have
00:17:15
here captain at the start of this is Leo he's not content to sit in his car while
00:17:22
his license is being run so he gets out of his car he goes over to officer McKay's police vehicle
00:17:29
now well let's take us one step back because when he initially when officer mck goes up to Leo's car right away I
00:17:41
think Leo is going to challenge the officer by saying well what's your name who are you you have to prove yourself
00:17:50
to me I think that is the the match that got lit that started the whole thing and
00:17:58
I think at that point the officer said well I have a right and it's my job to make sure
00:18:06
people are safe and this is a vehicle parked in a public area late at night no lights on they're allowed to run your uh
00:18:21
information so take it away from there well on that note I'm curious you know where he says Leo says I have the right
00:18:28
to be sitting here it's a public place I I get that from his standpoint I'm on board with Leo there where my first
00:18:36
question goes and I know this varies by area by state and often even by County so I'm not up to speed on this current
00:18:46
situation here but he's at the entrance of a park mhm and I know here in Franklin County
00:18:55
Delaware County most Ohio counties the parks close at dusk mhm you're not supposed to be there so that in itself
00:19:05
is suspicious Behavior so officer McKay may be right in his statement of hey you're in a suspicious place at a
00:19:12
suspicious time right but I also think it's it's bigger than that too let's say you're right outside this park that's
00:19:21
closed most officers are not going to care but they stop and they see you there and they go okay well let me just
00:19:29
approach the vehicle hey what are you doing here once you get that Kickback of what's your name who are you what right
00:19:38
do you have to talk to me I think as a officer to me I'd be suspicious of that person then
00:19:47
well why are they so combative I'm just trying to see why they're parked here so
00:19:53
if they're going to be combative with law enforcement maybe they have a reason to be compa comptitive with law
00:19:59
enforcement so I need to look up this individual to see if he has any warrants uh to see if you know who this
00:20:07
individual is yeah and the the big issue I have immediately is the you know what I was getting at is is
00:20:16
Leo getting out of his vehicle and approaching the officer's vehicle that's a big no no that no officer wants to see
00:20:24
that during a traffic stop so or or whatever you want to call this even if he's just checking maybe who who
00:20:32
knows maybe McKay went up there with the idea that he was going to offer some type of Assistance or right just to see
00:20:39
if the vehicle was abandoned there for any number of reasons and you're right the the match was lit and I believe the
00:20:44
the match was lit by Leo in the beginning but I'm I'm a little shocked here that and I really want to encourage
00:20:52
everybody to go and watch this for yourself because I don't want anybody sitting there going well you guys are
00:20:58
were too easy on the officer or too hard on Leo or too hard on the officer because I think that that my opinion of
00:21:05
the of each's behavior of each of these individuals Behavior at the end of the day I'm not not 100% happy with either
00:21:14
one of them no it's almost like they're pushing each other's buttons yeah like like they're St like between them is a
00:21:21
fire and they each have a gas can and they're just they're just tossing a little bit on it as they go and and part
00:21:26
of me see we don't know what the officer went through that day we don't know how
00:21:32
many um you hear this a lot from officers is that they start having a disdain for people in general only
00:21:41
because they're normally dealing with the worst of the worst they're not getting to deal with just the regular
00:21:49
citizen every minute of every day they're getting calls out to uh domestic violence drug drugs all that stuff drunk
00:21:58
drivers so but he he goes this kid is now pushing his buttons obviously like you said he pointed out this name means
00:22:09
something and I don't think it's Leo that means something I think it's I think it's Kenny that means something to
00:22:16
to Bruce McKay right and I actually think that McKay maybe not 100% of the time but I
00:22:24
think most of the way he handled this as best he could you know I think we have a
00:22:29
situation where Leo challenges him right away and then Leo approaches his vehicle
00:22:35
the police vehicle while he's running the license and then we have another situation where eventually Leo gets back
00:22:43
in his car and attempts to drive off and you hear officer officer McKay can be heard telling dispatch that the subject
00:22:50
turned hostile and was attempting to leave the scene well yeah two things right there one the approaching the
00:22:56
vehicle getting out of your car car approaching the officer big no no no that don't do that getting in your car
00:23:04
and then moving it around and having the the cop have to get in their car and and
00:23:09
maneuver in a way so you can't get out big big no no right those those two things are big no no because the officer
00:23:19
has to think about his safety but he also has to think about the safety of this individual but but but I would also
00:23:26
argue that before any of this there are Maneuvers uh or tactics or protocols that he could have used being McKay
00:23:38
could have used to dis deescalate the situation a little bit like hey just sit in your car don't worry about it if if
00:23:48
you're not doing anything wrong let me just run your license and I'll get it right back to you and you'd be on your
00:23:54
way so you're now giving the person that that you pulled up you didn't pull over
00:23:59
but you approached you don't have a real reason to arrest them but you have at least
00:24:08
cause to figure out who they are but just give that in you can give that individual some direction I'm going to
00:24:17
take your information I'm going to see if there's any warrants if there's no warrants I'm going to send you on your
00:24:23
way you know you just can't sit here and the reason why is the park is closed closed so the entrance is closed as
00:24:30
well and then you let you let the person go I just don't see any attempt from McKay to deescalate the situation yeah I
00:24:42
mean it appears McKay is is content to leave Leo in the dark let's say about as to what is going to happen next right um
00:24:52
I mean he did tell him a hundred times to get back in his vehicle yeah and then later we have Leo complaining hey I have
00:25:01
sensitive eyes you're shining the light in my eyes well uh dude you turned your car around and you are facing my
00:25:09
headlights now right you know before and look this this is complete police protocol this is how any traffic stop is
00:25:17
going to take place at that time when it's dark out they're going to keep their lights on the back of your vehicle
00:25:24
to make sure you're not pulling a gun out of the glove box or from under underneath the seat yeah but a few
00:25:29
things hey Leo I'm going to show you respect you show me respect right I'm going this is what we're doing uh I
00:25:39
think Bruce wanted to act differently obviously but he is he's underwatch you got the dash cam plus you have the audio
00:25:48
um so I think this was his way of winning but he had to remain calm he had to watch what
00:25:56
he said um um but again I think there was there simple tactics he could have done to to put a little water on the
00:26:04
fire instead of putting gasoline on the fire what what would you have used in that situation gasoline I would have
00:26:11
just lit the car on fire what tactics would you have used to to deescalate this well like I said I think the first
00:26:18
thing is just letting the Leo know that I'm going to check to see if you have a record and if you don't I'm going to
00:26:25
send you on your way and and the and explain why I have the right to to check your
00:26:35
information um and then also I think Leo if you're not going to be cooperative I
00:26:41
am going to call for backup and we will arrest you um I think that's also letting the person know hey if you
00:26:50
comply with me I'm going to let you go you're not going to be in trouble but you keep this up it's going to end in or
00:26:58
you're going to be in jail so I think that a couple of those things might have calmed the situation yeah I just wish
00:27:07
Leo would have complied with McKay at some point because we have Leo asking for another officer on the scene and
00:27:15
McKay complies with that so I think in a give and take situation I see one individual taking and not
00:27:23
giving well and like we said he he goes from asking for assistance and then asking to be let go and it's you know he
00:27:31
and he's obviously being completely rude and disrespectful and then when you hear
00:27:37
their arrest you know at some point you know McKay is saying you know Leo grabbed his
00:27:43
balls and it's a it's resisting arrest I mean once you get to that point and maybe it's not uh a law for arrest but
00:27:55
once it gets to that point and you start resisting they have to do everything in their
00:27:59
power to protect themselves at that point you don't matter if your arm gets smashed a little bit if they have to put
00:28:06
your face in the ground a little bit that's what's going to happen and that and we have given these individuals the
00:28:13
right to do that so once he starts yelling oh you're molesting me you're breaking my arm my hurt neck you know
00:28:20
it's like you know grow up kid yeah you you got you kept throwing gasoline on the Fire you kept on poking the bear you
00:28:29
know eventually you mess with the bull you're going to get the horn well and if if anybody wants to
00:28:36
scream brutality here um go for it but that wouldn't be the hill that I would want to die on because from me viewing
00:28:44
this so let's go through this real quick when when the backup officers arrived they did approach Leo who was now
00:28:51
standing off camera they physically seized him he can be heard yelling for a while that the group you know the group
00:28:59
appears in the video frame just for a brief minute but it does take the three officers three officers to wrestle Leo
00:29:07
down to the ground this is behind his car and now out of the view of the dash cam Leo screaming the whole time you
00:29:13
heard some of that he's screaming that they're hurting him he yelled over and over about his neck being broken by the
00:29:19
cops which we know didn't happen well he no he was yaw I I got a hurt neck you're
00:29:24
hurting my neck at one point he says that they they broke my neck right because he's
00:29:29
acting like an idiot the problem I have here with these officers is you know that you're on dash cam you know that
00:29:37
this guy you're you're coming to the scene because one officer cannot handle this individual and now you have three
00:29:45
of you just arrest him in front of the car so we can see it on camera I don't think that was an option though I think
00:29:53
they're reacting to this individual possibly not you you possibly I mean I I think in I think in a perfect world they
00:30:01
they would very likely have wanted to have full view of the arrest itself because here here's what I see anybody
00:30:11
that wants to scream brutality watch the video have your own opinion you don't have to believe me what I see here is
00:30:17
that if these three officers wanted to beat the [ __ ] out of this kid they could
00:30:21
have they had the opportunity to do so and it does not appear to me from the information I reviewed that they did
00:30:28
that it looks to me like they simply made an [Music] arrest this show is sponsored by better
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all lowercase shopify.com podcast free shopify.com slmp podcast [Music] free all right cheers meatees cheers to
00:32:26
you C real quick I just want to say this when I was playing all over the state and
00:32:33
traveling a lot real early in the morning to get back home you know sometimes going through these small
00:32:39
towns at 4:00 or 5 a.m. only car on the road You' get pulled over a lot more than you think you
00:32:48
should oh yeah and I kept feeling like I was being harassed and having a police officer then later a detective as a
00:32:58
father asking him for some advice on this hey I keep getting pulled over I'm not doing anything wrong sometimes I
00:33:07
don't even know why they're pulling me over and I feel like I'm being harassed and he St just said to me simply hey yes
00:33:17
sir no sir that goes a long way so when the officer would approach you know can I see your uh license and registration
00:33:26
yes sir you know yes sir no sir goes a long way yeah and I I believe you to be right
00:33:34
on all ends of that that story because it's weird and I think it's just like a country thing to get pulled over just
00:33:43
because you're driving I mean it was like that happened to me plenty of times and and you know I did the yes or noser
00:33:50
thing too uh because I always wanted I always believed whether it be sitting in the principal's office
00:33:57
or at a traffic stop or anything like that if you show a little bit of respect and
00:34:03
just it will end up being better for the both of us at the end of the day hopefully and and if not look there look
00:34:10
there sometimes there's just bad people out there and no sir and yes sir is not going to matter a lick of difference
00:34:17
that's right but for most cops it it really does matter you you showing them a a sign of respect showing them that
00:34:26
you um are are compliant in everything they're doing also know your rights as a citizen um
00:34:35
but you know look at this case in particular the actions of Leo are so immature that it' be hard to side with
00:34:48
him even if he's in the right he he is in the right on a lot of things it's the attitude in which he presents it yeah
00:34:57
and in almost the constant nagging behavior and attitude of Leo and if if at any point you watched the video or
00:35:06
you heard our clips and you kind of chuckled to yourself I felt guilty about that cuz I
00:35:12
did as well I don't think you you need to feel guilty for that because it's just it's so absurd and the longer you
00:35:19
listen to it the the behavior is so absurd that I think that's how you kind of manage hearing what you're hearing
00:35:27
and one absurd part one one part that I found to be a little bit this is maybe some sarcastic humor I don't think
00:35:35
anybody was trying to make this uh a humorous portion of the story I found it humorous was where officer McKay can be
00:35:43
seen and heard speaking into his shoulder mic saying quote there's going to be a complaint from the arrested
00:35:50
party right and you you hear that and you see him call that in and you're like what no kidding no kid there's going to
00:35:57
be a complaint before we go too much further here Captain a lot of the information we relied on in this case
00:36:04
came from two major sources one of them being John sedwick's 2007 Boston magazine article entitled Collision
00:36:12
Course rightfully entitled Collision Course the other was the book Bad Blood freedom and death in the White Mountains
00:36:21
by Casey Sherman so let's get into the aftermath a bit of this 2003 Le oenny arrest well cuz a lot of listeners right
00:36:31
now are going this just a simple arrest what what's the big deal grage guys right right so as you just said why
00:36:40
would we be discussing this confrontation it hardly merits discussion on True Crime garage right
00:36:47
what we're going to see is this confrontation between officer Bruce McCay and Leo Kenny was just the
00:36:52
beginning of a hostile relationship one that would have have fatal consequences so McKay filed a report
00:37:02
about the arrest of Leo Kenny his depiction of the events was partially confirmed by the dash cam video as
00:37:09
Boston magazine put it Leo was the one who quote turned heated and combative according to McKay's report in the
00:37:18
course of McKay and the other officers wrestling a belligerent hostile Leo to the ground Leo grabbed McKay's groin and
00:37:29
began squeezing in response officer McKay applied quote lawful defensive Force by
00:37:37
engaging in a protective maneuver to successfully release Kenny's grip from by striking the left side of Kenny's
00:37:46
face but Leo's story was different Leo said later that officer McKay had kicked him in the head and used unnecessary
00:37:56
Force Leo was taken in handcuffs to the hospital and was evaluated to to be to determine the extent of the
00:38:07
actual injuries right he had accused the officers of hurting his neck arms and legs but the evaluation revealed no
00:38:14
injuries except some swelling around his jaw presumably where officer McKay had struck him no broken neck no broken neck
00:38:24
it's a miracle uh police searched the Subaru and found hold on was there any um evidence of
00:38:32
molestation I don't I don't think so that was none was listed in the report so police searched the Subaru Leo's car
00:38:41
found a glass pipe and Mar marijuana residue under the seat uh found four 22 caliber casings and two knives that were
00:38:51
in Leo's Pockets during the entire encounter so to be clear he didn't have a gun the two knives he had I I'm always
00:39:00
a little hesitant on the knife situation you know some people make a big deal this person had a knife a lot there are
00:39:08
a lot of people that carry knives a lot especially in the country uh because they use them for as a tool right so I
00:39:15
don't see anything wrong with the knives and given his age and maybe this is partly why McKay went up and walked up
00:39:23
to the vehicle in the first place given Leo's age it's not really surprising to find a pipe with some leftover marijuana
00:39:31
residue in the vehicle I mean that doesn't shock you does it there captain no and I don't think it's that big of a
00:39:37
deal so Leo was charged with assaulting McKay and released into his parents custody on $2,000 bail his bail
00:39:47
agreement required that he not possess any weapons this is going to lead us to a
00:39:54
situation that takes place in April of the same same year still 2003 so Leo's bail agreement still in
00:40:01
effect as he awaited the legal proceedings on the assault charge Leo Leo's uncle called the cops on him for
00:40:10
trespassing Leo's Uncle Bill reported that his nephew was riding his ATV on his property and Leo was told time and
00:40:19
time again that this was not allowed one of the responding officers was Bruce McKay so McKay busted Leo for violating
00:40:29
his bail agreement because when the cops found him he had a blow gun and steal darts in his possession in fact McKay
00:40:38
filed a report stating the weapon qualified as the type of dangerous weapon prohibited by Leo's bail
00:40:46
agreement as a result Leo was subjected to house arrest and because Leo was a royal pain in the ass he cut off his
00:40:56
ankle bracelet right that was issued to him by the courts well that's not good Bob nobody
00:41:03
you know you don't approach the police vehicle during a traffic stop you don't cut off your ankle bracelet that's
00:41:09
issued to you by the courts yeah you don't get in your car and try to go around the officer you don't go on
00:41:17
somebody's property even if it's your uncle's property when you were told not to you don't carry look if you're on
00:41:24
probation you might carry around a knife because that's what you use as a tool but it's against your probation so you
00:41:33
don't carry around anything well and cutting off the ankle bracelet that's a great way to earn yourself a nice stay
00:41:39
at the county jail yeah which it did Leo got 15 days in jail I do want to note here that there was a lot of buildup
00:41:48
between Leo and his uncle before the uncle called the police about the trespassing yeah because Uncle probably
00:41:56
doesn't want to throw his nephew in jail or get his nephew in trouble well and I
00:42:04
think it got very dangerous between the two of them because the the uncle was definitely doing some things to upset
00:42:10
Leo and Leo was upsetting his uncle what happened before there was a situation just before this situation where he
00:42:18
calls in the police this is terrifying apparently Leo cut down a tree this was a 40 foot pine tree and it
00:42:29
conveniently fell on the uncle's home so very dangerous situation here and nowo is in 15 days in jail yeah ultimately he
00:42:42
would plead guilty to the charges of the the assault charges of the officer and resisting arrest he was sentenced to 12
00:42:50
months but would only end up doing 15 days this is the 15 days that he was in jail already so time
00:42:59
served this is after and this this might shock some people out there who have reviewed this case but this is something
00:43:07
that I found this was after officer McKay requested that Leo be treated with leniency now this was according to to be
00:43:18
clear this was according to New Hampshire State officials so I you take that for what it
00:43:24
is but that's where that came from no that's I mean but that's again I think when you look at the initial arrest it's
00:43:33
a officer that's you know he's he's having to reserve himself because he is being recorded but at the same time it's
00:43:41
like we can sit there and say you say no sir and yes sir blah blah blah but sometimes you're ju Just like there's
00:43:49
good cops and bad cops sometimes there's just some dumbass teenagers and and we've all had dumbass teenagers major
00:43:56
moments I've had them I know you've had them and I won't go into those on the show cuz I don't want to embarrass you
00:44:03
in front of all your friends I thought you were talking to the listeners uh the judge did order this is interesting the
00:44:10
the judge ordered that Leo was to have no direct or indirect contact with officer Bruce McCay let's step aside
00:44:19
just for a minute here and learn a little bit about Leo Kenny and his family so Le which means bud in the
00:44:28
native Hawaiian language is the son of Davey Kenny and his wife Michelle the Kenny Clan was rather large Leo's
00:44:36
grandparents Jack and Peg moved to the Eon Valley of New Hampshire in the 1950s buying a 450 acre parcel of land there
00:44:47
in 1962 they founded the famous rustic tamarak tennis camp where kids from all over the Northeast East would come to
00:44:57
train the extended Kenny Clan all had houses on this large property the family was known in the area for being quote
00:45:07
adventurous and headstrong this was as described by the New York Times and fiercely free-spirited as described by
00:45:16
Boston magazine in fact these descriptions seem a little forgiving to be honest with you the Kenny's were
00:45:23
aggressive Brash and Wild all of them seem to be talented athletes with no fear and big chips on their shoulders
00:45:32
they didn't get into legal trouble so much as suffer physical tragedies as a result of their impulsive and headstrong
00:45:40
behavior for example Bubba Kenny uh this is Leo's Uncle not not the one that he ends up in trouble with he
00:45:48
was a talented skier who was known for his Daredevil stunts like free diving off of bridges he died in a kaying
00:45:58
accident at the age of 25 a different Uncle of Leo's Uncle Mike raised professionally as a skier and then
00:46:05
became a coach for the US ski team and you may have heard of Leo's cousin bod Miller he's a famous US Olympic ski
00:46:15
racer now Leo's parents split their time between the tamarak tennis camp in the summer and Hawaii in the winter Davey
00:46:25
and Michelle were the hippie types they homeschooled Leo and taught him that freedom and Independence were Paramount
00:46:33
it's appropriate that they lived in New Hampshire the state whose slogan is Live
00:46:39
Free or Die Leo in other words was raised to believe he could do whatever he wanted the book Bad Blood tells us
00:46:48
that Leo had problems with anger from a very young age in one incident as a toddler he tried to stab a friend who
00:46:55
took his his toy one lifetime friend described Leo as a psychopath and said if you went on a hike with him you were
00:47:04
never sure if you were going to come back Leo was so unpredictable that he was actually banned from his family's
00:47:12
tennis camp while campers were around and he terrorized his little sister to the point that when she left to go away
00:47:19
for college she vowed never to come back as long as Leo was around yeah it almost
00:47:25
seems like has some kind of mental disorder I almost wonder if this is something that would have that that went
00:47:32
undiagnosed that they may have discovered later right now Leo flunked out of school this after being diagnosed
00:47:40
with dyslexia he had no job prospects as a young man he was described as smart but Leo was frustrated with his failures
00:47:50
and his lack of opportunities and his anger continued to build this was compounded by by Major feelings of
00:47:57
insecurity one of Leo's best friends named Siri Hayward told his father about Leo saying quote he's going to get in
00:48:06
trouble or hurt or he's going to hurt someone else end quote Siri was killed in an auto accident in 2005 and another
00:48:17
friend was killed that same year and Leo really started to become unhinged after
00:48:23
the deaths of his two friends he was disappearing into the woods and saying he needed to talk to Siri who who's now
00:48:31
dead and mumbling that something was going to happen now Uncle Bill he's the one that got into it with Leo now in
00:48:41
Leo's defense Bill had a Schism with the rest of his family with everybody a Schism a Schism the grandparents deed
00:48:50
the entirety of the property remember it's 450 acres to all five of their children together meaning that they
00:48:58
legally owned the property as a group and had equal rights to all of it right but Uncle Bill who was a survivalist
00:49:08
organic farmer and so-called Eco purist as described by Boston magazine he succeeded from the family and sued for
00:49:19
ownership rights of a specific parcel oneth of the land so he could live the way he wanted to this apparently me
00:49:28
meant alone in a law cabin for 30 years he just didn't like his family well it gets it gets crazier man Uncle Bill one
00:49:41
day decides he wants a wife so he got a wife named Lorissa from Kyan Don't make me say that again because I said it
00:49:49
wrong the first time Jan a Central Asian country this this is like a male ordered
00:49:55
bride via a website I don't know the name of website by which men can import a woman to marry them well how about we
00:50:03
just take a minute you let me know what that website was well I do a little side
00:50:08
note here please don't send me any hate mail I did not create the website nor have I purchased any people so not yet
00:50:16
you reading Consumer Reports regarding the purchase of people it turns out they're a waste of money don't do it so
00:50:24
all right let's talk about officer Bruce McKay now that we know who the Kenny family is the Kenny Clan as I called
00:50:30
them McKay was born in Bronxville New York in 1958 he attended a private prep school
00:50:37
where he played lacrosse and was captain of the soccer team he worked as a lifeguard at the local Beach he was
00:50:45
described as handsome popular he was a doood who lived life on the straight and narrow he attended New England College
00:50:54
in New Hampshire and worked as a volunteer fireman and EMT before attending a 12we law enforcement
00:51:01
training course at the New Hampshire Police Academy after graduating he landed a part-time job on the force and
00:51:09
havioral listeners will recognize this as Mara Murray territory then in 1996 he was offered a position as the
00:51:20
third full-time officer in nearby Franconia he was divorced course with a young daughter he was engaged to be
00:51:28
married to Sharon Davis their wedding was scheduled for July of 2007 but that Captain is where the facts
00:51:37
end the rest of what we know about Bruce McCay differs radically depending on the
00:51:44
source some say he was a bully on a power trip others say he was a dedicated cop who was committed to the rule of law
00:51:54
and was a credit to to his profession according to Boston magazine the Franconia 1,000 residents generally
00:52:04
preferred not to have any government interference in their lives and they also preferred not to have to tow the
00:52:11
line with regard to pesky rules and regulations their Live and Let Live mentality does not mesh well with that
00:52:20
of a police officer who sees things in black and white and is committed to in forcing the laws right like Bruce McCay
00:52:28
McKay reportedly was responsible for over 300 traffic stops in 2006 the other two officers in town had a combined
00:52:38
total of 11 300 to 11 yeah winner winner chicken dinner McKay seemed out to get the
00:52:49
citizens of this area for every infraction no matter how small the vanish plate on his personal vehicle a
00:52:57
Nissan SUV read gotcha got him yeah according to Boston magazine McKay once pulled over a
00:53:06
79-year-old woman for an expired registration sticker after she tried to explain that she was heading home to
00:53:15
cook dinner for her husband apparently he made her wait in the car for 2 hours Bad Blood rules are rules man
00:53:27
right Bad Blood sheds a little bit of different light on these aspects of Bruce McKay according to the book quote
00:53:35
rarely did he let his feelings get in the way of police work to McKay the law was the law and it applied equally to
00:53:42
everyone in his little corner of the world he would hand a friend a speeding ticket as quickly as he would a stranger
00:53:51
yeah see I I just don't agree with that especially like elderly lady it's like tell her Hey get that taken care of be
00:54:00
on your way the book goes on to say that the black and white attitude rubbed many
00:54:06
folks the wrong way but others appreciated the fact that McKay didn't play favorites yeah so there were
00:54:13
residents who supported McKay some said he was a nice guy and a great cop the ones that weren't arrested right the
00:54:20
police chief said McKay was an outstanding officer who was awarded 30 commendations during his years of
00:54:29
service yeah but they also have a quota and and some of some of the funding for these departments come from the tickets
00:54:37
that the that the citizens have to pay well others obviously felt different in fact according to some of the Articles
00:54:45
we looked at complaints from town residents about officer McKay this was not uncommon there were nine complaints
00:54:53
filed against McKay during his 11 year tenure some believed McKay would rely on using Force too often during the course
00:55:02
of performing his duties I've reviewed the ones that I could find and will say in my humble garage opinion the
00:55:10
overwhelming majority of these quote use of force incidents were Justified but not all of them some are caus for
00:55:21
debate one in particular was the arrest in Pepper bra of college student Sarah emberly the dash cam footage of this
00:55:30
encounter is available online as well this incident has mixed reviews some people believing that McKay
00:55:37
unnecessarily escalated things and some believe that he was totally within his rights to spray the young woman in 2005
00:55:46
a fellow officer this is Mark Taylor wrote a letter to the police chief and the letter says based on my previous
00:55:54
knowledge of Corporal McKay's demeanor this matter of fact attitude can come across as hostile and confrontational
00:56:03
and he advised McKay to be less confrontational shall we get back to Leo here Captain yeah okay so now we're at
00:56:12
January of 2003 this is when Leo got himself a handgun this was a Highpoint 45 caliber gun according to his family
00:56:23
and friends he adored this gun shooting it into the air at parties and sleeping with it under his
00:56:30
pillow but in January of 2007 the gun disappeared from his room Leo knew who took it it was his
00:56:40
15-year-old cousin Leo suspected this because the same cousin took Leo's PlayStation the previous year Leo
00:56:49
confronted the teen cousin and things quickly got physical Leo apparently strangling the kid and threatening him
00:56:57
during the course of this encounter to be clear he didn't kill him he he just I mean but it shows how out
00:57:07
of control the situation got now this method of theft investigation didn't work for
00:57:15
Leo and he was unable to get the gun back so he called the state police and reported it's
00:57:22
stolen the officer dispatched by the stadies got the teenage cousin to confess to taking the gun but the cousin
00:57:32
also reported that Leo had violently attacked him and this was witnessed by other family members Leo told the
00:57:41
officer that he had just shook him a bit the state trooper was required to file an assault complaint against Leo and a
00:57:51
trial was scheduled for April 24th of 2007 this would be Leo's second trial for assaulting someone the first being
00:58:01
officer McKay in 2003 at this trial the cousin and Leo's grandmother testified against Leo and
00:58:11
before this trial went down Leo ever the charmer threatened members of the young
00:58:16
cousin's family telling them that if the cousin and his grandma testified against
00:58:21
him he would kill them despite all of this misbehavior Leo was only ordered to pay a
00:58:29
$250 fine after the conviction Leo really started to unravel Leo told his boss at his job
00:58:40
this is at ague supermarket that he felt like he was being followed he told others that the cops were out to get him
00:58:48
and the officer McKay was hunting him he started to isolate himself and write about his quote last days this was in
00:58:57
his daily planner his parents were still in Hawaii at this time but his extended
00:59:03
family began to be concerned that Leo would commit suicide with the paranoia you start again wondering about the
00:59:11
mental health of Leo I do want to point out too that something that might add to
00:59:16
this whole thing here Captain being the let's say evaluation by others of Leo at
00:59:22
this time there were several persons that reported that he was pretty much living by himself for months and months
00:59:29
and months leading up to what I would call the final confrontation right and we know at least it's my belief that if
00:59:41
somebody is potentially suffering from something or going through something being alone for an extended period of
00:59:48
time usually doesn't seem to help the situation yeah makes it worse right so you just wonder what he was going
00:59:56
through now the book Bad Blood details a memo that officer Bruce McKay circulated
01:00:03
to his fellow officers after Leo's trial this memo was titled officer safety notice and informed officers of Leo's
01:00:13
conviction and states that Leo attempted to influence the witnesses at the trial
01:00:19
the other members of his family influen them to not show up for the trial telling them bad things would happen if
01:00:27
they did the witnesses feared for their safety Leo was known to own a gun had a drug history and had a history of
01:00:36
resisting arrest the memo [Music] warned for everything true crime garage check out our website True Crime garage
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