apparent negligence

[billi]

illinois, my daughter and her two children were murdered in Septembr of 1990 by her ex-boyfriend. when the police finally arrived, the reporting officer refused to get out of his air conditioned car, to go upstairs to investigate (stating that it was too hot outside). he told me to go find my own f---ing daughter. i in returned called his surperior and a sargeant in a white shirt came out. he apologized for the conduct of the priviously sent officer and explained the officer was upset because he was called in on his day off. he suggested that I file a formal complaint at the station. this sargeant called the fireman to go into my daughter's apartment to search for her and her children. the fireman went in through their second floor apartment window, (in the children's room where the next day,their bodies were discovered underneath their bed) and after a few minutes, he came out and said there was no-one there. early the next morning i went back to the apartment because of a dream i had the night before. my husband climbed in through the second floor window in the living room and unlocked the door from the inside to allow me entrance. we found my daughter's badly decomposed body in the back bedroom and later the police discovered the children's bodies in their bedroom (the same bedroom in which the fireman climbed through less than 24 hrs. earlier). i have several questions. can't i sue the fireman and the police for negligence?
also, i took the sargeant's advice and tried to file a formal complaint against the officer who told me to go find my own f---ing daughter. only, i was refused this right. the officer taking my statement at the station told me that i had to write down what he said that happened the way he said or i could not file a complaint. i refused to do it that way because it would not be in my words, so i left the police station in tears. wasn't that violateing my rights of some kind and is there a statute of limitation for doing this? the reason for me taking so long to question this fact is mentally i wasn't ready.

[Edited by billi on 06-26-2001 at 11:40 AM]

 

[ALawyer]

Your story is as horrible a case of outrageous conduct, coupled with a deep tragedy, as I can imagine. My condolences to you.

Unfortunately there are very short time limits to file notice of charges against most municipalities or state governments, and 11 years may be about 10-1/2 to 9 years too late....

Statutes of limitations are designed to put an end to matters, in part so people can get on with their lives, and businesses and governments can continue to operate without keeping records forever. CRIMINAL prosecutions for murder have no statute of limitations, but even civil prosecutions for wrongful death do.