On Sept. 18, Johnstown Pennsylvania Police Officer William Slisz bashed his way into his agency’s evidence room with a hammer. He was later found overdosed in the roll call room by a fellow officer. The kicker here is that Slisz was a veteran officer and a member of the Cambria County Drug Task Force. As it turns out, the Chief Craig Foust was aware of a previous breach to the evidence room and failed to do anything about it. He was suspended pending further investigation.
Upon being discovered, paramedics were rushed to the scene. Officers were unable to wake him and Slisz had to be given a shot of Narcan before he would regain consciousness. Until this week, the name of the officer had not been released. Even now, we can assume that Officer Slisz still has his job and is catching an all expense paid vacation. No additional information has been released about Slisz or his position at the department.
The District Attorney, Kelly Callahan, also released the information that the chief failed to take action after the evidence room was breached when it first happened in July. According to a preliminary investigation by the DA’s office, the Chief did not consider Slisz a suspect until he was caught red-handed. During the course of the investigation, it became apparent that the chief withheld the information regarding the previous breach. No additional information about that particular breach has been released. The DA stated that Slisz will face criminal charges for his break-in and theft of evidence, however, she did not clarify what charges would be brought.
Slisz put all of his pending prosecutions in jeopardy by fundamentally ruining his own credibility. Callahan advised that her office is working to identify and examine all of Slisz cases and active warrants. “I’ve worked with the public defender’s office and court to identify all incarcerated individuals and modify their bond for release until further details in individual cases can be determined,” Callahan stated to the press. Callahan went as far as to dismiss drug charges against two suspects. “In the interest of justice and erring on the side of caution, I felt it was very important to make sure any incarcerated individuals – that those cases were looked at and that bond was modified to make sure they were not being held.”
The case will be investigated externally, as should always happen, but rarely does. The department believed that an external investigation, bypassing the internal affairs division, was the best option. District Attorney Callahan supported the move. Captain Jeffrey Janciga will step in for Chief Foust while he is out on leave. The chief has yet to make a statement.
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