A massive manhunt ensued to “Kill Jason on sight.”
Several indicators demonstrate Police knew what had, actually happened, within minutes of the shooting, and higher‐ranking officials in the State Police and Broome County Sheriff’s Departments were quickly informed and then actively participated in a plan to cover up what really took place.
- Two Troopers believed to be immediately at the scene were required to provide Witness Compliance Statements, these statements were never released at trial.
- Both troopers had missing AVL data (GPS) from that evening, this information was never made available until after the trial.
- The District Attorney and NYS Police concealed the movement and location of both State Troopers at critical periods leading up to the shooting of Trooper Seager.
- This omission of critical evidence was intentional and lead the jury to believe that there were no officers in close enough proximity to accidentally shot fellow Trooper Rebecca Seager.
Altering Police body cam footage is an illegal practice used by police to conceal evidence.
Broome County Sheriff Deputy Rowe’s Body and Dash Cam are Cropped
- Deputy Rowe’s body cam and his car’s dash cam have very different lengths of recording despite the way they turn on and work.
- Rowe’s car’s dash cam tape provided to the Defense began recording 42 minutes after his body cam, not at the same time.
It’s obvious that Deputy Rowe’s patrol car lights and his body cam were simultaneously activated and recording from viewing his body cam video. Still, there is no footage from his dash cam for 42 minutes until he was well south of the scene.
Deputy Rowe’s dash cam tape, provided to the Defense, begins 42 minutes after his body cam. The Prosecution wants you to believe this is when the tape begins. Who turned on the dash cam, to begin the tape recording? Rowe is about 200 feet from his car, stopping two motorists on East Windsor Road. Rowe was nowhere near his Broome County Sheriff patrol car 142 to be able to manually start the dash cam, suggesting the dash cam did not magically turn on but had continued recording from a much earlier time north on East Windsor Road, then it was cropped to hide footage.
The missing tape section allows Deputy Rowe and the Harpursville Ambulance, with two EMTs from the Harpursville Fire Department, to pass by the scene at the Johnson Farm entrance and continue south through the location of Trooper Seager’s shooting on East Windsor Road at about 9:37 pm without revealing the Trooper cars that are parked along the way. Removing this section of tape from the dash cam video likely loses a critical part of the evidence that would have placed troopers’ whereabouts and changed the case’s direction.
Additionally, several items used to document the location of Seager’s gun belt are manipulated to create confusion over the location of her weapon. It seems through body cam footage, emails and reports that Seager’s gun was checked in at several different places at once. State Police Inv. Whittaker seems to be moving it in and out of different patrol cars all night, or Trooper Seager had more than one pistol with her when she was injured.
- The following day, State Police Investigator Whittaker, repeatedly asks the Johnson’s where their pistols are and if Jason has a pistol. The Johnson’s do not own pistols. When the evidence doesn’t fit the Police change their story.
- More than 16 bullets fired by the NYS State Police that evening were frantically picked up within minutes of trooper Seager’s shooting and were never accounted for in the evidence and therefore never examined or tested.
Where is the chain of custody for Seager’s gun belt and gun all night, and why would the New York State Police place Trooper Seager’s fully loaded gun back into a Broome County Sheriff’s Car at a location away from the Fire Station in Harpursville?
The following conversation was recorded minutes after Trooper Seager left to meet the Ambulance:
“We did not leave Becky’s pistol down there, did we?” “Did she get it out?”
“Yeah, it was on the ground”
9:30:04 “Matt, you got it” (Okun) Selmer – “YEAP”
9:30:28 “Over there, last he saw it”
Selmer and Okun asked what was found on the road. “Sig Sauer”
Meehan, Whose “Challenger”?
** Note: “Sig Sauer” and “Challenger” are 2 very different hand guns. A Challenger fires a .22 bullet.
The investigation failed to address or test the bullet directly under Trooper Seager’s car embedded in the payment on East Windsor Road. Interestingly, soon after this incident, Broome County resurfaced the road.
Patrol car 2C12’s AVL GPS Data disappears or “malfunctions” at 8:56 pm, according to Affidavit in
Support – signed by Sr. Inv Michael Kijowski five months after the conclusion of the trial. “All other Trooper AVLs worked without incident or apparent errors” (Sr Inv Michael Kijowski 1‐18‐2023).
- There were no earlier issues with patrol car 2C12’s AVL record shown on the data file, until data is no longer shown after 8:56 pm.
- Broome County Emergency Services E911 Data Rapid SOS tracked patrol car 2C12 at the scene all night on 6‐9‐22 and the next morning at 8:41 am, while the State Police claim that this same vehicle was experiencing a “malfunction” and its whereabouts could not be tracked.
- No records of a repair of the vehicles AVL system appear to exist.