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Jan 5, 2008 12:07 am US/Pacific
SF Wants To Examine Tiger Survivors' Cell Phones
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ―
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Tiger attack survivors Paul Dhaliwal and Kulbir Dhaliwal.
CBS
The city attorney sought permission Friday to inspect the car and cell phones belonging to the two brothers who survived tiger attacks at the San Francisco Zoo.
Deputy City Attorney James Hannawalt sent a letter to the brothers' lawyer, Mark Geragos, asking him to make sure they preserve any photographs or call logs that were on the phones before the Christmas Day mauling that claimed the life of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa.
San Francisco police currently have possession of the phones, but the brothers, Kulbir and Paul Dhaliwal, have refused to authorize investigators to examine the contents, according to Hannawalt.
"Your clients refused to cooperate with this request; consequently, no one has yet examines this potentially critical evidence," he wrote in the letter.
Police officials previously have said that an empty vodka bottle was on the front seat of the car the three young men drove to the zoo last week and which was towed away after Sousa's death while the Dhaliwals remained hospitalized.
Hannawalt proposed having evidence experts from his office and hired by the brothers inspect the phones and the car together when the police are ready to release it "in the interests of getting to the real facts behind this tragedy."
A message to Geragos' office on Friday was not immediately returned.
Geragos told The Associated Press earlier this week that he wants to get hold of his clients' cell phone records to see if they hold any information that would back up their claim that they tried in vain for over half-an-hour to notify the zoo the tiger had escaped.
City officials have been investigating the fatal attack to determine if the 350-pound tiger, which was shot dead by police, was harassed or teased in any way before she jumped or climbed out of her enclosure.
Hannawalt asked Geragos to "guarantee that the contents of the phones and car are not destroyed or altered in any way."
Also, San Francisco Zoo officials said Friday they now must bolster the
polar bear exhibit as well.
The existing moat wall at the polar bear exhibit is a bit short, and a 3-foot-tall chain link fence will be added to bring it to 16 feet high total.
The add-on fence was installed Friday. The zoo was closed on Friday because of the severe weather.
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