The Harford County Division of Emergency Operations and Sheriff’s Office have launched inquiries into the circumstances surrounding a Sheriff’s Office sergeant who suffered a medical emergency last week.
The sergeant was identified by sources as Noel Raufaste, a 10-year veteran of the agency and a member of its police services bureau. Raufaste was on patrol in the Rock Spring area north of Bel Air Thursday when he suffered what Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Monica Worrell described as a non-self-inflicted medical emergency.
Raufaste was transported in critical condition to the R Adams Cowley University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where Sheriff Jesse Bane said he was “doing better” Tuesday night.
But beyond those basic details released by the department, the specifics of what happened and how the county’s emergency services responded is not clear.
“I have a number of accounts of what happened, and right now none of them agree,” Bane said Tuesday.
According to various sources contacted by The Dagger, those stories range from nothing unusual occurring beyond the information initially provided by the Sheriff’s Office, to the possibility that Raufaste did not receive assistance for several hours, despite signaling for help via radio several times.
Bane said he began an “inquiry” early this week to determine the circumstances of the incident.
Meanwhile, Rick Ayers, deputy manager with the county’s Division of Emergency Operations, said that department has begun an “internal investigation” of its own. Ayers did not respond to subsequent questions regarding the nature of the investigation or what specific questions might trigger such investigations.
Bane said he was unable to characterize the actions and efforts of the county’s emergency dispatchers in the incident until the inquiry was complete.
Wow, to think he may have been trying to summon help for hours just makes me sick. Maybe a deputy or someone with intimate knowledge of the HCSD radio systems can chime and and let us know if their radios have emergency buttons that can summon help when one is not able to speak?
Yes sir, they do have an emergency button. The Fire/EMS do too.
Are prayers are with you brother.
bet nothing is done about the problem……..
Hey Dagger you may want to check some of your “facts” about what hospital he was taken to and by whom.
I would hope an outside agency would investigate this.
Have you ever tried to get facts before posting a story? MSP aviation was never used. He was taken to UCMC then transferred by them to U of MD by a PHI helicopter. Not one thing reported about this incident has been true beyond that he had a medical emergency on duty. Stop trying to sensationalize the story with rumors and just report the limited information given (due to HIPPA) and pray for his well being an recovery. Geeze…
the main idea of the article was not about the officer’s condition. It was about EOC. Glad the officer is doing better. BUT this is a concern that if an officer doesn’t have radio contact, that is a real problem.
If this man is a supervisor and no one had heard from him for an extended period of time should it not raise concerns with the leadership at HCSO. I would think supervisors would be involved in many things during their shift and you would hear them on the radio. If you are not hearing from them it should raise red flags with their contemporaries.
you raise a good point Bobbie, but the time goes by and nothing was brought up by dispatch. Where was the dispatcher that was monitoring the channel? This needs to be looked at because the officer doesn’t need this to happen again.
Our prayers are with this brother in blue. How it was handled,or not handled, should not be public knowledge and I would hope Bane will keep “internal affairs” just that. The public does not need to know every move the dispatchers or officers make.
The problem with leadership at HCSO is not in this rank. The true problem in the HCSO is many of the hand picked command staff. With that being said this is about a sick member of HCSO and getting to the bottom of the situation. Hopefully an unbiased investigation will be completed and at that time things will come to light. Im not going to speculate on what happened or why it happened at least not on here. Get well soon SGT!
what are you smoking? The command staff has nothing to do with the sickness of the deputy. All members of the HCSO have come together. Leave politics at the door. Unbelievable.
“Citizen” I dont think that the post meant any harm. Calm down take your meds. The post seems to be in response to Bobby P’s post. What are you smoking?
It was in response to that but everything was taken out of context. Im not going to agrue its not worth it. Im not going to talk politics I will save that for another thread. I was defending a response to a post but like usual it was misconstrued. The bottom line like I said earlier get well soon SGT!
The bottom line is that had this been a citizen and not a deputy, this event would never have been reported anywhere. A good person suffered an emergency, just as anyone could have, and because of his career, he has to get dragged through the mud. UNBELIEVABLE. God help any one of you who have nothing better to do than speculate and oversensationalize. Let him be, and help us to get him well instead of adding to stress.
I read the posts and didn’t see any that were dragging the Sergeant through the mud. What are you talking about? This article makes it sound like Sheriff Bane is concerned about his Deputy and why he was not discovered sooner by his fellow Deputies on the evening he had his medical emergency. Is there more to this event that is not being said?
Chris is right. If he were a civilian county employee this likely never would’ve been reported to the public. I’m still a bit puzzled as to why a press release was put out to begin with (and the comments from certain people on the original article suggesting that this was self-inflicted injury are just pathetic.)
If something like this ever happened to me on or off duty I wouldn’t want a press release being issued and definitely wouldn’t agree to have my name made public if they insisted on putting out a statement about it. Anytime there’s an article on here involving the HCSO all the tinfoil hat conspiracy folks coming crawling out of the woodwork or, even more pathetic, some people try to use something like this to further their political agenda against the sheriff.
Do not believe anything that comes out of Chris Gibbons mouth. He is a Bane boy and he will protect the Sheriff at any cost. He has to in order to remain one of the chosen ones. And I beg to differ with him and DW. If a civilian was on the side of the road for 5 hours and no one had contact with him, I’m sure that would make headlines because there would be no cover up and there would be a public outcry. Wishing a complete recovery to Sgt. Raufaste.
This is the first I have heard that the Sergent was incapacitated for approximately 5 hours before anyone (including his on duty fellow Deputies) responded to help him. Who was in charge of this mans duty shift? How can a fellow deputy go missing for over 5 hours and no one seems to notice?
I didn’t know 5 hours went by without anyone having contact with him. That does change things a bit as far as putting out a press release, but I stand by the rest of what I said.
I just hope something can be learned to potentially keep these officers safe in the future. No ill will towards anyone, just learn from whatever happened and use that knowledge for the greater good.
fix the EOC
When can I vote! From the sound of things there are some serious problems in this county. The Sheriff’s Office, The Dispatch Center, The County Executive’s Office all are a mess. Vote em all out. Im not sure what is going on with this situation but if someone or something delayed the response to an emergency responder in need then shame on them! These men and women go out everyday to protect my family and I demand they are also afforded the best protection. This is not a political speech this is me being worried about the police officers in this county. Someone has to be accountable for their actions.
Give the dispatchers what they want–a new multi-million EOC center that will no doubt make them more competent. And put up some new apartment complexes in Edgewood while you’re at it and be assured that crime will drop. That’s the way our leaders think in Harford County. The dispatchers will still find something to complain about–the conference rooms are too small and the thugs will take over anything you put in Edgewood.
In my whole career and in the ten years since I retired I have never heard anything like this. Many many times when it was hitting the fan our dispatchers were there and performed at a high and professional matter. I did the and still would now Put my life in their hands. They are the best. Just like in police work the good the dispatchers to goes unreported. Hey guess what we are only human. Wait until the ditch hunt is over to judge anyone
Your wrong on Chris Gibbons and If thought for a second Bane was at fault you know how would react. My Only suggestion was that I would have an outside agency look into.
Marc, I am reading your responses with a lot more respect because of what you say, which is being fair and objective.
Bobby Weaver I agree find out what happened and move on.
The PIO for the Sheriff’s Office is to Public information as Bane is tO being a leader and a cop. I have dealt with a her and she has problems with not being honest, but she is Bane’s good friend
She has problems with being honest. Ya Think!!! She is a dumb ass, plain and freakin simple!
Mike, am I incorrect in assuming Eddie Hopkins is the PIO?
Hi Monster,
He is now. He was not the PIO when this incident occurred. Now they have three PIO. Sure seems like a waste of money, but what the heck, its only money!
Am reading this correctly? The Harford County Sheriff’s Office has 3 public information officers?
you are both wrong! She is a friend of the county exec!!! She is an HDG gal who was involved in his campaign and BOOM she has a job she isn’t qualified for!
Brenda,
What job would she be qualified for?
well she controls the money for the music boosters at HDG High….and that is an organization run by Craigs son. One without a 501C designation or a charter….She did have a sub shop …I think that went bellyup…so darned if I know!
She is an embarrassment to the agency. I cringe everytime I see her speak on tv. The Sheriff’s Office already has so many shameful things going on, what’s one more? Eddie Hopkins was the best PIO. He was articulate, he knew what to do in front of the camera, he didn’t mumble and his teeth were straight. So why is Eddie gone? Oh that’s right, he supported another candidate and he’s been banished like so many others. Just ask him.
Eddie Hopkins would make an excellent Sheriff. I learned a lot from working with him. He was a great cop and works well with people. Wow, what a great idea. How do we recruit him? The Sheriffs Office would be a great place to work if Eddie Hopkins were Sheriff!
I think Eddie ran one time already???
Dagger, has the Sheriff’s Office or EOC shared any further information regarding this investigation/inquiry that they were going to conduct? I suppose the answer is No, because if they had you would have reported such.
How is it that a Patrol Supervisor (Sgt) goes missing for over 5 hours and no one notices? Then when someone finally inquires about him they subsequently find him in critical condition suffering a medical emergency for who know how long, at a local convenience store parking lot.
Very interested in hearing a follow-up. Bane probably fired him too.
Am I reading this right? A Sgt was missing for five hours before he/she got help? I agree with Mike Welsh I Think the Dagger should do a follow up on this.
Any update in this “internal investigation” by the EOC, or the “Inquiry” by the Sheriff’s Office. Its only been a year. A patrol supervisor keys his radio up several times trying to get help but can’t speak and goes missing for 5 hours and still no answers.
I’m sure the investigation (if they really conducted one) has been completed. It has probably been determined by the HCSO that it’s none of our business (the public’s) so no further action required. That’s how it works these days in Harford County. The HCSO only tells us what they want us to know, the rest is none of our business.
Mike Welsh you are 100% correct. By the way I enjoy reading your posts, you are honest and clearly well educated.
I speak with Raufaste on a semi-regular basis. Although I am unsure of whether either investigation was ever completed or not I do know that he loves being a cop more than just about anything. And if he is ok with continuing to work for the same agency with which this unfortunate incident occurred everyone should leave the matter be. Trust me if he wanted his life posted online he would have made his pwn damned own damned statement.
That’s all well and good I speak with him as well when he can but you don’t think things need to change? I will question you on that would live to be a deputy that can no longer be a supervisor.(that can’t really speak or be himself) Sometimes things need to be looked into and this is one
“Trust me if he wanted his life posted online he would have made his pwn damned own damned statement. WHAT IS “PWN”, are you pwn drunk?
What investigation was actually done on this and what were the findings?
Don’t know anything about the investigation or if there even was one. An outside agency should have done the investigation to keep it ethical. Ethics and Bane are like oil and water. I do know that Sgt Raufaste was retired with only a 50% retirement instead of the full medical retirement he deserved. I would ask the Dagger why they do not follow up on this story?
Well my email to Aaron and my post above went unanswered. Have to wonder why The Dagger dropped this story? I thought you were better then this Aaron.