Houston Fire Department & Harris County District Attorney at odds over daycare worker fleeing the country. HFD releases detailed timeline.
Houston Fire Department timeline
Harris County District Attorney’s Office timeline
Previous coverage of this story
There is a battle going on in Houston between HFD and Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos over who is responsible for allowing the child care worker connected to last Thursday’s deadly fire to flee to Nigeria. The fire killed four children and injured three others. Investigators say the children were alone when the fire broke out because Tata went to the store.
HFD investigators are frustrated with prosecutors who would not issue an arrest warrant or a search warrant for Jessica Tata’s van. HFD says it also warned the District Attorney’s Office that Tata was likely to leave the country. The fire department makes the case they had the same evidence that eventually resulted in the warrant in their first meeting with prosecutors. Lykos blasts those who are criticizing her office for moving slowly.
HFD Chief Terry Garrison has issued a statement and released a detailed timeline of investigators actions and meetings with prosecutors. Lykos has also issued a timeline. Take a moment to read them.
The Houston Fire Department shot back at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office Wednesday, releasing a detailed chronology of events in their investigation of a fatal day care fire in west Houston.
The move came a day after District Attorney Pat Lykos said any allegations that her department moved too slowly in issuing a warrant for day care operator Jessica Tata were “outrageous.”
… at a press conference on Tuesday, March 1, Lykos said it was up to arson investigators to collect evidence against Tata.
“We do not live in a police state,” Lykos said. “While officers can certainly arrest people for crimes with their own discretion, the penal code outlines when you can arrest without a warrant. But you have to have objective facts to justify holding that person in custody.”
When asked whether Tata should have been arrested on Thursday or Friday, Lykos said she had “no opinion,” but implied that investigators had not collected sufficient evidence quickly enough.
Lykos blasted anyone critical of the job her office had done, characterizing the public statements as “unprofessional” and “counterproductive.”
