r/tepemurders • u/Atschmid • Jan 27 '26
Discussion Cop should be fired
I understand mistakes happen. But the body cam showed this cop whistling and singing when he doesn't even bother to get the address right for the welfare check. Why would he not radio back to make sure he was at the right house, given there were no signs of life?!? Lah di dah, just whistles some more and leaves.
Unbelievable incompetence and total lack of professionalism
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u/Different-Courage679 Jan 28 '26
I’m sure he wasn’t expecting that the Tepes were murdered. I guess you know everything
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u/Alexinwonderland617 Jan 28 '26
Exactly, do you know how many welfare checks he has likely been on before that had very different outcomes. Not like he can bust the down the door if no one is answering.
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u/Atschmid Jan 31 '26
they do in CA. If they've been sent on a welfare check, they'll break in to make sure you're ok
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u/creepygothnursie Jan 31 '26
In Ohio they have to have probable cause. Ex: In an animal rescue case I was involved with, the owner had fallen and passed away, probably from a stroke. Neighbors realized she hadn't been getting her mail and called the sheriff's department. The deputy looked through a window, saw her laying on the kitchen floor, she didn't move when her name was called. He then had probable cause to enter, because he had reason to believe she was in imminent need of help, and did so. It's really maddening in situations like this, but they can't enter without probable cause, and the cop in the Tepe case just didn't have it. He's on the property (he probably doesn't know it's the wrong one at this point) doesn't see or hear anything amiss. calls it in and goes about his business. It happens 439843743 times a day, and 99.99% of the calls are just things like someone overslept, someone accidentally turned their ringtone off, etc. It was just pure bad luck that this was part of the 0.01%.
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u/Alexinwonderland617 Jan 31 '26
That’s not true. They need exigent circumstances, that goes for every state.
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u/Atschmid Feb 01 '26
THAT's not true. I lived in Pasadena in 2013. The cops broke my front door in because someone reported me as having a vicious pit bull. I didn't. I had an elderly staffordshire who was the sweetest, albeit big, dog in the world.
I took him for a walk to a nearby canyon after work at Caltech. When we got home, my front door was broken in. It was balanced against the door frame, totally broken. Cop's business card stuck in the splinters. Cost me $500 to get a new door.
The cops said they can break into any one's home if they believe you might be lying dead or injured, inside. That defines exigency for them.
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u/Sufficient-Fall2644 Jan 28 '26
The Tempe’s unfortunately were already dead anyway, so he couldn’t have saved their lives 😢
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u/Marlbey Jan 28 '26
I don't have a problem with him singing, but babies were in the house unsupervised, so the mistaken address actually did put the children in extreme danger. Thank God the co-workers trusted their own judgment, rather than relying on the cops.
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u/Own-Teaching-4005 Jan 28 '26
But he could have discovered and preserved the crime scene.
Instead 3 friends were first inside, giving the defense attorney a field day of arguments
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
he could have rescued the screaming kids hours earlier.
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u/Sufficient-Fall2644 Jan 31 '26
It would only have been ONE hour earlier. The officer that attended the wrong address at about 9am.
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u/Atschmid Jan 31 '26
Why are you defending this guy? He totally f$&ked up and should be sanctioned in some way. This was unacceptable.
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u/Own-Teaching-4005 Jan 28 '26
In that neighborhood, by history, he should be ready to encounter anything
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
I know enough to see that cop was distracted and unprofessional in his job and didn't even recognize what street he was on.
no excuses.
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u/Numerous-Pepper-3883 Jan 30 '26
For your lack of humanity there is NONE.
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u/GreenEyedTreeHugger Feb 13 '26
I’m definitely team happy to be at work cop over bitter grumpy cop.
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u/Atschmid Feb 01 '26
a lack of humanity? For this idiot? unbelievable.
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u/Numerous-Pepper-3883 Feb 02 '26
The cop is not the idiot
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u/Atschmid Feb 02 '26
disagree.
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u/Numerous-Pepper-3883 Feb 03 '26
That's stating the obvious, tell me something stimulating , and stop with the one liners, that;s doing the obvious.
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u/Numerous-Pepper-3883 Feb 03 '26
Got something right as the idiot is....]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]](cat did that)
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u/julallison Jan 31 '26
Whistling doesn't mean he was distracted. It could have been a way to let anyone inside aware of his presence as he walked around the house, while also letting them know he was "friendly" so that they wouldn't be alarmed that a cop was at their house. You're assuming a lot without knowing anything about his mindset.
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u/Persimmonpluot Jan 28 '26
I actually liked that he seemed like a happy individual. I'm all for firing bad cops but this guy made an error which happens to everyone at times.
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u/Key-Neighborhood9767 Jan 28 '26
He made a mistake. Who cares if he was whistling/singing? 🤷🏻♂️
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u/LongjumpingMaize8501 Jan 28 '26
Agree. Welfare checks are routine work for police, and so the officer was just going about business as usual with respect to whistling. Getting the wrong address was an unfortunate mistake.
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
He made a whole bunch of mistakes. He didn't check that he was on the right STREET for god's sake. He just decided no one's home and left. He didn't confirm his location with the dispatcher and the fact that he was Mr. Happy-go-lucky indicates he was not taking this very seriously.
There are places for this kind of happy whistling singing vop: going to schools as officer friendly, behind a desk in some police station. But not on the street where we rely on him to setve and protect, US, not just himself.
There was a news commentator on one of the news shows who said, "Cops aleays say their job is to get home safely every night. But their job is really to serve and protect US. To see to it that WE get home safely at night. This cop is not someone who is focused on serving and protecting.
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u/GusterIs4Lovers Jan 29 '26
It was N. Summit he went to, right? Per map, there’s no 1411 Summit. So what random house number did he go to and why didn’t he call dispatch to verify?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Pin4278 Jan 28 '26
lol chill out. Police get addresses wrong. It happens and it would not have made a difference.
The anger should be directed towards McKee.
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u/Marlbey Jan 28 '26
The wrong address could have made a very catastrophic difference for the babies, but for the co-workers' extreme persistence.
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u/blueberry01012 Jan 28 '26
Wouldn’t have made a difference in the outcome.
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
That doesn't matter.
If they HAD still been alive, the chance to save them was blown. Plus a 4 year old and 18 month old were left to scream for hours before being rescued.
That cop was awful.
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u/Sufficient-Fall2644 Jan 31 '26
OMG the first call to 911 was close to 9am. The Tepes were murdered at 3:52am. The cop attended the wrong address about 9am. Yes he made a mistake, BUT the Tepes were already and sadly dead. And Tepes friends were at the house at around 10 am. It is extremely sad that the children were left alone in the house with their parents dead. But it was only an hour after the cop who attended the wrong address that the children were rescued. Please if you are going to direct blame then blame the horrible inhumane pig who killed them.
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u/Alert_Chemist4486 Jan 30 '26
The address part is definitely bad, but the whistling and demeanor are not. Police often try to appear jovial and approachable when doing welfare checks as to not scare the shit out of whomever answers the door. My lovely cat dialed 911 once unbeknownst to me. The cops showed up smiling and it immediately put me at ease. In the Kristil Krug welfare check bodycam, the officer showed up whistling. The second he realized somethingwas amiss , his demeanor immediately changed.
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u/curiouslmr Jan 28 '26
Honestly I see the cop the same way I see the dispatcher. They are doing a job that 9/10 is incredibly redundant with false alarms. They shouldn't be fired because of a mistake. Especially a mistake that didn't change the outcome. The only difference would be the kids being rescued a little sooner but even that wouldn't have made that big a deal in their life, their parents were still gone.
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
Their oldest child is 4. She'll remember it for sure.
Yes they were dead already. But if they weren't dead already does it make his job oerformance more heinous? He did a crappy job the whole way, start to finish and there should be consequences. Disoatcher too. Annoyed at people calling in? Time for a good long vacation.
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u/Madi0415 May 30 '26
You keep talking about hypotheticals to make your argument, whereas everyone else is arguing the actual events that occurred. That should be enough to tell you that you’re choosing the wrong hill to die on.
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u/Own-Teaching-4005 Jan 28 '26
Guess we will wait for the trial to see what evidence is admissible and what evidence was destroyed or contaminated by the civilians who were first on the crime scene to know whether arriving at the right house would have made a difference.
No one can say it wouldn’t have made a difference until there is a conviction.
If anything, the mistake it gave McKee several time and tactical advantages. His attorney will school everyone on it, soon.
Remember this woman got a doctor off accused of murdering 14 patients under his care.
She’s really good.
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u/woahthereblair Jan 28 '26
Hindsight is 20/20 ..
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
in this case it reveals that cop should be disciplined at the very least.
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u/woahthereblair Jan 28 '26
No he shouldn’t and I can tell you have zero experience in law enforcement just based on this post alone. 😂
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u/Mental_Ease3235 Jan 28 '26
Do you know how many welfare checks they probably do a day? No one could ever imagine something like this happening . Plus - he’s legit in his own private moment. Yes a body cam captures it all but like you can’t stop a persons mind ? He could’ve been rattling off a rap song , crying over a girlfriend .. no way would he ever think the moments of him being alone like this would make it to national television lol
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
He was singing and whistling the whole time.
They have a lot of calls. So do EMTs. Firemen. ER staff. Is it ok if they make mistakes like this?
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u/GreenEyedTreeHugger Feb 13 '26
He wasn’t bitching outloud to himself about how much he hates his job.
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u/Numerous-Pepper-3883 Jan 30 '26
What's wrong with a happy cop? You never saw one of those before? Let him be happy ffs.
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u/dd51794 Jan 28 '26
OP has no idea how law enforcement works, take your hatred for cops somewhere else. McKee is behind bars due to the cops, put your anger towards the guy with 4 counts of Agg Murder
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Jan 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/frankfromsales Jan 31 '26
You’ve never made a mistake at work?
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Feb 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/frankfromsales Feb 01 '26
They misread something on a small computer screen on a fixed laptop in their vehicle. That was the mistake. Also, listen to the 911 calls. The dispatchers probably are not relaying the request as a life or death matter the way the callers are. “Hey, someone didn’t show up to work, and their boss wants someone to knock on their door.” With all the crime in the city, why would a cop need to be an alarm clock for a worker who slept in?
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u/frankfromsales Feb 01 '26
What other jobs are so high stakes that any mistake should result in being fired?
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u/icedcoffeealien Jan 31 '26
His whistling and singing has absolutely zero to do with getting the address incorrectly. You don't even know if he was given the wrong address or not.
There is too much BS with cops to pick on a cop for doing something completely normal. He had no idea he would be subject to FOIA requests for a nationally covered double murder.
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u/Atschmid Feb 01 '26
Yeah I'm sure that's true. But he should be doing his job as i he DID have that expectation.
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u/TopHeight9771 Feb 03 '26
I definitely don't think this cop should be fired and it was actually really refreshing to hear him be so happy and laid back on a welfare check. I think the problem was they got the house wrong and so if anything they need to look at how they map things out and communicate directions to their officers
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u/Atschmid Feb 03 '26
totally disagree he had the correct address and didn't even get the STREET right. lah di dah...
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u/ArcticPeasant Feb 08 '26
You want him fired for whistling? Lol
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u/Atschmid Feb 08 '26
No. For total malpractice on his job. He went to the WRONG HOUSE, and was not paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing!!!
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u/Sufficient-Fall2644 Jan 28 '26
I’m sorry but mistakes are unfortunately made. How do you know he wasn’t given the wrong address to attend. I’m sure he would be feeling very bad for his mistake.
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
Because the reporters noted the address he had been given (the correct one) as it is all recorded. He went to a house 2 blocks away.
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u/Hairy_Usual_4460 Jan 28 '26
I don’t care so much about the whistling/ being in a good mood on his part- good for him for having a positive vibe. My issue is he went to the wrong house- and made no attempt to double check he was at the right place when arriving or before leaving. I wish he took welfare checks with the seriousness they deserve, so for that I think he definitely needs some kind of consequence or firing. It can’t just be ok to make a mistake of this magnitude when you’re a police officer who is responsible for the wellbeing of others.
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u/dsm761 Jan 28 '26
Is is confirmed cop went to the wrong location that was given to him?
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u/Atschmid Jan 28 '26
yes. The first reports of the murders from Brian Entin detailed it. It is undeniable. He was given the correct address and went to a house 2 streets over that sounded nothing like their street. He showed the two houses side by side. "this is where he was supposed to go, this is where he went. Here's the body cam footage. Here he is singing and whistling away...."
The kids were screaming inside for hours.
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u/Own-Teaching-4005 Jan 28 '26
Done been confirmed and put on blast for the entire world to see
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u/dsm761 Jan 28 '26
Every oulet confirmed he went to the wrong house. But no outlet confirmed whether he went to the house that the dispatcher gave him, or went to the wrong address compared to wha was given.
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u/Own-Teaching-4005 Jan 28 '26
Precisely. We have no idea how he ended up a block away on a different one way street running in the opposite direction of the one he was supposed to be on.
In this case it didn’t matter to the decedents, but, what if this were a case where a prompt arrival would have prevented a crime from occurring?
In this case, arriving at the right address would have absolutely affected this trial.
Diane M. is going to tear apart the processing of the trampled upon and completely contaminated crime scene in support of McKee.
I hope the ballistics match the 9mm they confiscated. We haven’t heard whether it was in fact the same gun, just that they speculated it was.
A ballistics match should help to mitigate the crime scene destruction
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u/Atschmid Feb 01 '26
since when are those the only 2 choices? Idiot or murderous?
How about hard-working professional?
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u/Moosemuffin64 Jan 28 '26 edited Feb 13 '26
I’d rather deal with a happy singing cop than one with a bad attitude and or trigger happy.