9.Joseph W. Sullivan — Direct
109 linesJOSEPH W. SULLIVAN, duly sworn
COURT CLERK: Have a seat. State your name, spell your last name for the record, keep your voice up and speak into the mic so everyone can hear you.
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Joseph W. Sullivan, S-U-L-L-I-V-A-N.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. CHAKRAVARTY:
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Good afternoon.
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Good afternoon.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Where are you employed?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: The City of Cambridge Emergency Communications Department.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And how are you employed there?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: As a communications supervisor.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And when you say "communications supervisor," is that for purposes of dispatch and radio communications with police officers around the city of Cambridge?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And you perform other functions as a supervisor as well?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: We also dispatch fire and EMS as well.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And are you a police officer or a civilian?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: A civilian supervisor.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Before you were a supervisor, what was your role at the Cambridge P.D.?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: I was a dispatcher. And prior to that I was an intern in the Criminal Crime Scene Services Unit.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And how long have you been with the Cambridge P.D.?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Approximately 22 years.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And how long as a supervisor?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Since around the year 2000, so 15 years.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And do you have communications to Cambridge police officers as well as other police officers who might not be on the Cambridge P.D.?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And are there different channels with which you can communicate with all of those people?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Were you working on the evening of April 18, 2013, the Thursday after the marathon bombing?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: I was.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And what shift were you working?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: I was working the eleven-to-seven shift.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is that 11 --
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Eleven -- I'm sorry. 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. That's my shift. I arrive -- usually arrive a half an hour to 45 minutes early for our shifts.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And so did you arrive earlier than 11 p.m. on that Thursday?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And were you aware that there were some images of the suspected marathon suspect -- bombing suspects released earlier that day?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Now, at some point did you learn about a shooting at MIT?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, I did.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And what did the -- what role did the Cambridge P.D. dispatch unit do with respect to the MIT shooting?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Well, we received a report of an officer down from MIT, so we dispatched a sector car over there, Sector Car 3 to the location. I believe it was Vassar Street. And everything -- we went from there. That's pretty much what we did for that part of the call.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. And were there communications about the MIT shooting for the next several minutes or hour?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. At some point a little after midnight, was there a report of a carjacking?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. And can you explain what you and the dispatch office did?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: We received a call on 9-1-1. I believe the victim went over to the gas station opposite Memorial Drive, which he was at the other gas station. We received a call on 9-1-1. The dispatcher processed the call, put it in. And then we had some questions for him. He said that he was carjacked, and then further in the call he stated that --
MS. CONRAD: Objection.
THE COURT: No. Again, the same basis. Not for the truth of the matter but just the events.
Overruled.
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Continue?
BY MR. CHAKRAVARTY:
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Continue, please.
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: The dispatcher that was on the 9-1-1 phone further got more information from the victim. He stated that he was kidnapped -- I mean, carjacked by the -- what he said, the marathon bombers. So we -- he said that they carjacked -- took his car as well. And we asked -- he said he had a Mercedes, so with the newer model Mercedes, they usually have LoJack. So one of the dispatchers said, "Does he have LoJack?" Questioned him. He said, "No, but I have Mercedes Tracker." So we immediately asked for his plate number. He didn't know his plate number. And so in that part of the conversation I asked him -- I asked the dispatcher to get his name and date of birth to run it in the CJIS system. We ran his name and date of birth in the CJIS system and retrieved his plate that way. The dispatcher on P.D. Channel 1 Googled the number for Mercedes Tracker, gave it to me, and which in turn I called Mercedes Tracker to start the GPS on the vehicle.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. Now, in addition to that research for purposes of calling the Mercedes tracking service, was an officer dispatched to go speak with the victim?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, sir.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: All right. Is the Mercedes tracking service called Mbrace?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, sir.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And did you speak with a representative that evening of Mbrace?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: I spoke to, I believe, a couple of representatives that evening.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And while you were on the phone with them, were other law enforcement agents also trying to contact Mercedes to try to locate this vehicle?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, sir.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: All right. And is the vehicle that you were locating the same vehicle that the carjacking victim said had been carjacked?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, sir.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And were you eventually able to get through the customer service to get to a representative?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Eventually, yes.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And did that person tell you how they could locate the vehicle?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Did they explain the process of it?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Not the technical aspect of it but how precisely they might be able to locate it.
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Well, I do believe he said they could within, give or take, I guess a few yards or something. That I don't recall.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. But they're able to ping the vehicle, essentially?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Oh, yes. They're able to ping the vehicle and tell you where it is, but within a couple of -- I don't know how many yards or feet. But they can tell you where the vehicle is by pinging it.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And so did the call take several minutes with Mercedes tracking service?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: By the end of the call, were they able to ping the vehicle?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And were they able to give you a location of where that vehicle had been located?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Where did they say it was located?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: It was -- I believe the location at first was 87 Dexter Ave. in Watertown.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And once they told you the location in Watertown, what did you do?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: I immediately got on the radio, on BAYPERN 3, and the dispatcher got on Channel 1 and announced it to the police units.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. So you said a couple of technical terms pretty quickly. You said you got on the BAYPERN. What's BAYPERN?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: It's a citywide channel that usually on 3 it's the -- or Central, they call it now, is the Middlesex County area, which it allows the officers from other towns and cities to monitor our transmissions and for us to monitor their transmissions, and everybody on the same channel.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. And then you also said Channel 1. What's that?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Which is our main frequency channel for the police department, which we give out all the calls.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: So you communicated the location of the Mercedes SUV to all of those channels -- to both of those channels?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, sir.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And did you continue to talk to the Mbrace folks?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, I did. I wanted to keep them on the line till we actually got the vehicle. I didn't want to have to hang up and have to go through the process again of retracking it so I stayed on the line with them, and they just gave us some updated coordinates -- they can bounce from 87 to maybe low 90s or maybe lower 80s as the officers were responding there.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: So the signal moved but it was within that proximity?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Exactly.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: That was Dexter Avenue in Watertown?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Yes, sir.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: When did you hang up on the Mbrace people?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: I hung up as soon as the officers arrived there, I believe, when the incident started, shots were being fired. And I hung up the phone with them knowing we had the vehicle there.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: So police officers had made contact with the vehicle?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. And this was at some point after midnight, around one o'clock in the morning, a little before then, maybe?
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: What I can recall, yes.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. So that's on Friday, April 19th, 2013?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: That's all I have.
MS. CONRAD: No questions. Thank you very much.
THE COURT: All right, sir. Thank you. You may step down.
JOSEPH W. SULLIVAN: Thank you.
(The witness is excused.)
THE COURT: Okay. Pursuant to a prior conversation with counsel, I understand that's the last witness who's available today. This sometimes happens. Planning is not always a certain process. And so we're done for the day. And for the week.
So, again, you have the next three days to yourselves. Spend it that way. Put the case out of your mind. Don't be thinking about the things. Of course, not talking about it or watching any reports about it. We'll resume on Monday morning on our regular schedule. Enjoy the weekend.
We'll be in recess.
COURT CLERK: All rise for the Court and the jury. The Court will be in recess.
(The Court and jury exit the courtroom and the proceedings concluded at 3:13 p.m.)
P R O C E E D I N G S