LEBANON, Maine — A 102-year-old man who was among 11 people hurt in a crash in Lebanon last month has died of his injuries.
Walter Rand of Sanford died Thursday night of injuries suffered in the July 22 crash, the Portland Press Herald reports.
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating the crash because radio transmissions by emergency workers were intentionally jammed, delaying the arrival of ambulances.
Under federal law, jamming emergency radio frequencies is punishable by fines or time in prison. But legal experts say charging someone with causing Rand’s death is highly unlikely.
Lebanon rescue workers met with FCC officials last week to discuss the case.
I hope they find the person who jammed the frequency soon. This person might not have a conscience and might feel empowered now that his actions led to a death.
Or it’s someone who just has it on in case someone wears a wire into their home, which would still mean they aren’t the greatest of people, but unless the jammer is still active, they won’t find who did it unless they come out and say they did.
I think that people who are afraid of someone with a wire coming into their house probably are not jamming signals as they won’t let anyone in anyway. You could be right though.
It’s not a jammer. It’s a shield. It’s an old Navy trick used years ago and in some cases still used today. The problem here is. The Navy has what it takes to locate and capture this guy in minutes. Homeland Security wants this guy in operation or he’d have been taken out of business long ago.
More than likely a ham radio with an unlocked transmit. Most new vhf ham radios can transmit on police fire with a simple mod.
^this
If it were a “dead key” broadcast the FCC would not have any excuse and therefore should be held accountable for the elderly man’s death.
Yes the person who did this should be held accountable . As far as the FCC the should be better able to tack this . Tie up a local 2 meter repeater for an hour and see how long it takes for a local ham to catch them. They should be using all thier resources. Even if that means public help. Being a ham operator I was never asked for any help .
Too many movies….
“wires” don’t use that freq band, and those types of jammers don’t TX w/ enough power to black-out emergency services (unless the accident happend right outside the jammer’s house). Its intentional.
I don’t think his death had anything to do with the signal jam…Anyone who gets in a car accident at 102 years old and survives is lucky. He lived a long life, hopefully a happy one, condolences to the family.
Yeah, no kidding. he was 102. I can’t think of any other reason he might have died. Jeez. RIP.
yes this was my neighbors father tragic
I’m very sorry for your neighbor’s loss.
This is no longer some kind of sick joke. Causing a death by preventing emergency services from reaching the injured person is considered, at a minimum, a manslaughter charge. One would expect the AG’s Office to get into this as well as both the FCC and the FBI. Another incident like this and it’s not manslaughter. It’s a MURDER charge and this entire radio jamming investigation is going to come into Court as evidence. Someone is looking for a very long vacation at Otisville or Atlanta at the rate they’re going !
Are you a lawyer or do you just watch too much TV ?
Retired Fed who’s prosecuted these types of idiot’s. Noting like having them and their equipment in front of a Judge when the victim’s make their Impact Statement just before sentencing. Always add’s at leat 3 to 5 on top of whatever the PSI recommend’s fro the Sentencing Guidelines.
Sure you were a federal prosecutor. Your misuse of apostrophes to denote plural nouns is rather convincing in demonstrating the intellect required of a lawyer…
Ryan, you don’t need to be a lawyer to prosecute. Go ask CBP. And go ask Judge Woodcock. ‘Maximum’ John and the local Federal Magistrate both know and go thru this everyday on their docket’s.
Uh, yes, you do need to be a lawyer to be able to prosecute. Your biography online states that you were a police officer. Police officers don’t prosecute.
Come to my jurisdiction and find out.
It’s scary that some people may actually believe you.
“The government, on behalf of the people of the United States, prosecutes the
case through the United States Attorney’s Office if the person is charged with a
federal crime. A state’s attorney’s office prosecutes state crimes” (http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf/autoframe?OpenForm&nav=menu2c&page=/federal/courts.nsf/page/A2ACB10A0EEA99B185256824004B4FAA?opendocument)
Further, a prosecutor is defined as “the government lawyer responsible for prosecuting criminal defendants” (http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf/autoframe?OpenForm&nav=menu2c&page=/federal/courts.nsf/page/A2ACB10A0EEA99B185256824004B4FAA?opendocument)
Mike, you got owned here buddy. Ryan called you out on your blowhard claim and outed you. He won. Ex-cop maybe……retired fed doubtful……prosecutor……give me a break. Nowhere in the American judicial system from local to federal does a police officer prosecute. Police investigate and charge a person with a crime. The LAWYERS aka DISTRICT ATTORNEYS prosecute. Thats just the facts. Whats with the “come to my jurisdiction” comment? I thought a “feds” jurisdiction was the United States of America anyway. Unless Ryan is from outside the USA he is in your make believe jurisdiction.
Just goes to show cops are not that smart. Also they Lie , even in court.
Usually you rub me the wrong way, Ryan, but I have to agree about the apostrophes. Once is a typo, thrice is just sad.
He’s right. If the guy who died could have been saved if the EMS wasn’t jammed…the jammer wins murder/manslaughter charges.
Thank’s !!!
Maine. One of the top Naval Communications Stations in to world and we can’t locate one civilian who likes to “shield” radio signals. Really nice article here. Let “ALL” the terrorists know what our “WEAKNESSES” are.
I think you know less about U.S. Naval Communications than do the Palestinians.
HAHAHAHA
Andy: You’re wrong.
wow,who ever.what ever is doing this should be stopped if it was an infant we could say well most babies dont surive ;(
Wow ..102..what a life! RIP
While I agree 100% that whoever jammed the lines needs to be found a prosecuted, I think the headline here is misleading.
The accident occurred July 22, and this gentleman passed away August 2. That’s 11 days after the accident itself happened. Do they know for sure that it was due to the lines being jammed that this man died? I don’t know how long emergency personnel were delayed, but did that delay result in this man’s death?
No matter what ultimately caused this man’s death- age and inability to recover from his injuries, a delay in healthcare due to the lines being jammed, severe enough injuries that ANYONE would have had a difficult time recovering, etc, my heart goes out to his family and friends. The death of any person, for any reason, causes lots of grief and heartache for those left behind. I hope that you are all able to come together during this time, and lean on each other for the support you will ultimately need.
I think the point is that there is a _possibility_ the guy could have lived, had help arrived sooner. It didn’t arrive sooner, because EMS freqs were being jammed.
Do you do anything but scour the comment section, and attack everyone for their thoughts and opinions? Very rarely do I see you post anything on an article itself, just belittling and insulting comments against those who do share their original thoughts and opinions.
There was a post on here prior to mine, stating a similar opinion to the one I have, that it’s hard to believe that the jamming had anything to do with this man’s death- he was 102 years old, and it was a bad accident. Yet, rather than say ANYTHING on that person’s post, you zeroed right in on mine.
You accuse me of wanting to argue any point I can, yet you do what you can to get me going. Well guess what cupcake, as far as I’m concerned, you don’t exist. After I’ve said this piece, I will no longer feel the need to ‘defend’ my opinions to you, because YOU DON’T MATTER.
Time to get all the local HAM it help find this guy. More than likely it is a modified ham radio being used.
Anyone deliberately interfering with police / fire radio communications is in deep water. If injury or death results from the jamming, charges range from interfering with government administration, all the way up to felony murder.
It’s a shame that someone with the ability to achieve the status of a federal prosecutor doesn’t have command of the most basic grammar skills. I graduated from a small high school in 1964. We had great English teachers who were determined to make us understand our native language. We didn’t realize at the time that it might be something that would follow us through the years regardless of what line of work we chose, but they did.
lastofthelitter, would you clarify your last sentence for me? I’m confused by the use of both “it” and “they” to apparently refer to the same thing or concept. Does “it” refer to “understand our native language”? In which case, does “they” also refer to this concept or are you using it to refer to your “teachers”?
Being a licensed Ham radio operator I have several radios that can transmit on POLICE, FIRE ,ETC. They are much more powerful than standard police or fire radios . I do not know all the details here . Was it a wide band Jam? or just directly jamming the emergency channel being used . I only had to use state fire one time to report a bad accident . (leagal in times of a real emergency. The local hams radio groups have all kinds of tracking abilities . Lets say put 500 or more people looking for this guy . Most would volenteer to help . Local police fire do not have the ability or knowledge how to do this. Lets say this happened in Bangor they might have one or 2 police firemen they would be able to help find this guy. I would bet we could find 100 hams for every police man that has the knowledge and ability to find this man . Maybe a small reward? Local ham do so much good . Bangor Daily supports local hams , I even took my test for extra Class License in the Bangor Daily news building. Thanks Bangor Daily news . Maybe you should bring this to the FCCs attension. Ham Radio might have a bad reputation for interfering with you TV but they do many things in time of emergence to help people. Just take a look about the help during Hurricane Katrina . I do not thing they got enough credit for what they do most are good citizens .
It’s a case of Shielding Bob.
Would not be hard to track
How sad! RIP