CLEVELAND — The father of a woman brutally attacked and killed in her own home expressed his anger during a news conference Tuesday.
“If the police would have responded in a proper manner and be there on time within minutes of the first phone call, my daughter would still be alive,” said James Sidelka, Carly Capek’s father.
Carly Capek, a mother of four, was killed on September 6. The suspect, Calvin Nettles, is in jail, charged with her murder.
Attorneys Terry Gilbert and Elizabeth Bonham are now representing Capek’s family.
Gilbert says he wants to know who failed Capek.
Her stepmother and father want transparency and say that’s not happening right now.
“To have the police department or anyone else tell me they don’t have the facilities and not enough people to handle all these calls — that's not my mistake, that's their mistake,” Sidelka said.
Sidelka has not been contacted by Cleveland Police about the investigation. He believes his daughter would be alive today had police gotten to her quicker.
“You could hear the people outside screaming at their phones telling the operator or whatever to get somebody there right away,” said Sidelka.
News 5 Investigators have been digging into the police response in Capek’s case.
Police and 911 call records show a time span of at least 14 minutes from the first 911 call to when the first officers got to Capek’s house on W. 78th from the District 2 station.
The call originated as a priority one felonious assault.
“There was an extremely delayed response by the Cleveland Police Department while the attack was going on,” Gilbert said.
Calvin Nettles was arrested after being found naked at Capek’s house. Court records show he was high on PCP. News 5 Investigators reviewed autopsy records but they were too graphic to describe on television.
“He done some very horrible things to my daughter,” said Capek’s father.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to sleep again because I just imagine that,” said Capek’s stepmother, Pam Sidelka.
Gilbert believes the decision to have internal affairs investigate the police response is the appropriate move.
“Ideally it would be nice to have an independent investigation,” said Gilbert.
Gilbert says Capek’s family wants them to get to the bottom of what happened.
“And determine what personnel in this process dropped the ball,” said Gilbert.
“When somebody in our community calls 911 for help, they should be able to get help. That didn’t happen here,” Bonham said.
Several people called 911 begging for police and an ambulance, but wanted police right away.
This is what a dispatcher told one 911 caller: “Okay we're getting police out there as soon as the next unit is available — they are on their way ma'am.”
Records show medics showed up first and asked dispatch if police had an ETA.
The Cleveland Division of Police is down nearly 300 officers. News 5 Investigators asked Gilbert if he thought there was a connection between staffing and what happened on September 6.
“I think that would be one of the problems, but when you think about the universe of calls that are made to the police department every day, they have to prioritize them,” said Gilbert.
Capek’s parents say something needs to change before this happens to someone else.
“The City of Cleveland should always have the proper amount of people, the proper amount of cars, the proper amount of everything,” said James Sidelka.
Their attorney says they may also consider looking into the new Community Police Commission and Office of Professional Standards for an investigation into the response.
It’s been two weeks since Mayor Bibb called for the internal affairs investigation.
Police say it’s still an open investigation into the response and don’t have anything further to release.
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