More on the N.Y. State Police’s Failure to Interview Mark’s Attending Physician

As Atty. Michael Kelly pointed out, Edward Kalfas, the lead New York State Police investigator in my brother’s case, should have spoken to Dr. Edward Piotrowski, Mark’s attending physician at the burn unit of the Erie County Medical Center.  Kalfas and his then superior John Ensell virtually ignored the fresh pool of Mark’s blood found in a paved T-section area just off his driveway the night of his truck fire (see esp. post of May 29, 2012, with photos).  Dr. Piotrowski, in fact, had important information to help explain from a medical point of view how Mark had lost that blood just before his truck fire.

In 2005, Dr. Piotrowski informed me about mucosal congestion in my brother’s sinus areas (see post of March 31, 2018).  He explained that, unless my brother had suffered from a bad sinusitis condition, the only explanation for the presence of such congestion would have been a blow to his nose.  To my knowledge, my brother did not suffer from any such severe sinusitis condition.  Mark, then, had to have been struck on the nose.

The blow to his nose could not credibly have been caused by Mark stumbling and falling after getting out of his truck.  According to an emergency worker on the scene that night, the pool of blood was located close to the front end of the driver’s side of the truck after Mark parked it on the T-section.  (Shortly after my brother returned home, the truck itself was backed down the driveway and fifty feet into a field across the road, and Mark himself was found lying in flames about 60 feet away.)  When he got out of the truck, Mark would have turned and walked in the opposite direction toward his house.  In addition, there would not have been any rough patches or other obstacles on that paved T-section to cause a fall.  The blow to Mark’s nose had to have been deliberately inflicted by someone.  My brother must have been attacked, and a struggle ensued, with Mark’s blood ending up on the pavement.

Dr. Piotrowski also stated that blood from a blow to the nose can come out through either the nose or the mouth.  He mentioned that no x-ray was taken of Mark’s nose and added that he would not have noticed any problematic blood from Mark’s mouth because a breathing tube inserted into his throat itself caused bleeding.  Before I spoke to him, Dr. Piotrowski did not know about the pool of blood on Mark’s driveway area.  But he emphasized that he had been concerned about soft-tissue damage to Mark’s forehead and had wondered if Mark had been struck on the head (see most recently post of April 30, 2020).  He explained that, since no official had contacted him, he assumed that the investigators had uncovered the answer.

When Atty. Kelly in 2005 asked Kalfas why he had not interviewed Mark’s attending physician, Kalfas replied that he had called to speak with him but the doctor had nothing to say.  However, since Dr. Piotrowski clearly stated that no investigator had contacted him and expressed his concern over the soft-tissue damage, Kalfas’s statement is very hard to believe.

In this instance and so many others, it is obvious that the N. Y. State Police investigators did not want to bring to light the truth about my brother’s death.  The question is: Why?  Were the State Police protecting someone?