Parents say investigation into train victim’s death is ‘sluggish’

August 10, 2011

Bryan Brady

Parents of a Paso Robles man they believe was murdered said the city’s police investigation has been hampered by lack of resources and staff. [see the full report at KCCN.TV]

Bryan Brady was just hours into his 21st year when he was struck by a northbound Union Pacific freight train while lying unconscious between the rails in downtown Paso Robles. Details of the hours leading up to Brady’s July 31, 2010, death remain so sketchy that his parents have hired a private investigator to prod the official probe.

His mother, Kasi, said this week she believes her son was murdered, and she expressed concern that the Paso Robles Police Department’s growing staff deficiencies may be contributing to the investigation’s sluggish progress.

Paso Robles Police Lt. Tim Murphy demurred: “Bryan Brady’s death was thoroughly investigated by this department,” he wrote. “All information and leads were diligently pursued. There are no indications Mr. Brady’s death was criminal in nature; however, investigators are committed to further investigation of any new viable leads or information in this case.”


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I’ll discuss the Brady case on Dave Congalton’s 920 KVEC Home Town Radio Show today (Friday) at 3:35 p.m..


920 KVEC gave a report this evening and they say that Paso Robles has a serious gang/crime problem, but the city fathers want to keep that covered up and promote Paso has tourist/wine country….


Bryan Brady was reportedly last seen near the tracks, where he was assaulted by a Paso 13 gang

member.

The radio program also said that this year, a boy was knocked out with a mickie in a bar and woke up on the railroad tracks….he has no idea how he got there.

Two years ago, 3 young white people, one girl and two boys were severely beaten when they steppedoff a bus by Paso 13 gang members. The girl was beaten into unconsciousness.

All three incidents happened during fair time, all three indicate Gang activity. It sounds like Paso has aserious crime problem that is not being addressed. The police department by their own admission arein disarray and understaffed. I hope that serious minded citizens will take notice of this serious

problem and take steps to protect the town and its citizens before Paso 13 decides to loot and burn

your town.


I’m surprised to see some of the comments that I’m seeing here. Did people even read the story at KCCN and if they did, did they comprehend what they were reading? There is no indication that the Brady’s are looking to initiate a law suit, they hired an investigator, not an attorney. If they wanted to claim that a bar had served Bryan too much alcohol, they wouldn’t need a detective to prove that, Bryan was found to have a .20 BAC and frankly, the legal driving limit was .10 not all that long ago. Double it and I don’t think that isn’t so drunk as to knock you out for 4 hours in the cold of the early morning hours and if it is, how did he manage to get himself onto those tracks in the first place? That’s just a thought…. the first of many.


There is a great deal of conflicting statements from the witnesses that evening. There are characters of interest that has never been interviewed. The girl named PRC (sp) claims Bryan said “I’m alone and no one can help me, I’m going down onto the tracks” was very intoxicated (by her own account). Is it possible that Bryan was saying that someone was going to put him down on tracks, because he was alone and no one would help him? Wasn’t he thrown to the ground by someone named (what was that name?) when she encountered him? How about the three guy’s that were seen carrying Bryan into an alley, two said they carried him to help him but the other denied it and said Bryan walked away just fine, yet all three walked away with Bryan in tow? Why the discrepancy, did they beat him some more in that alley? Doesn’t any of this raise a red flag? How many of you believe that you can look at a body that was just hit by a train and determine that there were no prior injuries from an assault? What was it they said, something about missing limbs and his brain protruding from his skull (in simple terms), but they could tell just by looking? I don’t think so, I think the Brady family has good reason to be concerned. How many of you could put this to rest if it was your child, with these unanswered question’s? I BET YOU COULD’NT. I hope you never have to, have some compassion.


Why did this young man decide to go drinking alone? Or why did he end up alone? If he’d been with friends, someone could have looked after him.


The information in the KCCN report leads me to think that Brady didn’t end up on the tracks by his own efforts. But proving that is another story.


Cindy, your point about what he meant when he said “I’m alone and no one can help him me” breaks my heart and strikes me as very, very sad and possibly true. In his picture, he looks like a clean cut, sweet,

happy boy. Too many witnesses have seen too much that night to indicate something happened. I saw

an article in the Tribune a few weeks ago about how they perform autopsies down in SLO, how they treat every death as suspicious, but it seems they did not do a thorough autopsy on this boy. Guess they already had their minds made up. Sad how often criminals get away with their crimes. In this case, all it would have taken is for one of those many people to pick up a cell phone and call 911. Bryan could have been taken home, to a hospital or to jail. He did not have to die. ” Am I my brother’s keeper?”


Too bad the paso pd can’t investigate this 1/2 as much as the chp did for the officer killed on s river.


Same episode has played out in other communities after individuals drink themselves into a stupor and wind up on the tracks for a nap…

Very sorry that a young man has perished but like everyone else has stated no one forced him to do all that drinking….


If you read the story carefully, you might see that he was not in a drunken stupor, but possibly was suffer-

ing from a closed head injury. It is easy to pass judgment without knowing the facts. I think his parents

must have hired the private investigator because they want to know what happened to their son. Paso

police department seems to be suffering some sort of internal breakdown and when the agency is

malfunctioning, they cannot do the investigative work that needs to be done. When is the next City

Council meeting? Maybe we should all be there asking questions, because if our police department is inthis much disarray, then they obviously need citizen support and help to reorganize. This ain’t Mayberry.


This tragic accident would never have happened if:


The KILT (Pappy McGregor’s) had NOT over served this guy!


According to the KCCN.TV report his BAC was .20, close to three times the .08 legal limit.


Does not the bar that obviously let him drink to the point of intoxication have ANY responsiblity?


Does not the bar employee who witnessed that he was hit by a possible gang member to the point he was unFUCKINGconscious for several minutes (that is serious folks) that the POLICE were not called right then and there!


Pappy McGregor’s and most other bars will NOT call the police if altercations of any kind transpire for fear the ABC will come down on them negatively effecting their precious liquor license.


In other words if PASO PD was called when the young man was KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS and lying on the sidewalk he would probably have spent the night in jail for drunk in public and NOT have ended up DEAD!


As far as budget constraints the Paso PD I think they did everything they could or spend hundreds of thousands of dollars they don’t have on high tech forensics (that we see on drama TV that is factually unrealistic) on a body that was so very sadly damaged by the train accident.


If you haven’t read the full story on http://www.kccn.tv please do so as more info is discussed.


My heart goes out to the Brady family and I believe that his original attackers had a great deal of copability with their son’s demise.


Hopefully those responsible will get their just rewards in the court of “what goes around comes around”!


Did the employees of the bar(s) tie Bryan to his bar stool and force the alcohol down his throat? What about personal responsibility? A lot of people party on their 21st birthday but that doesn’t mean you have to get so stinkin’ hammered that you end up unconscious on the RR tracks!!


And other news sources say Bryan was with his FAMILY and FRIENDS while celebrating his 21st birthday. Are you blaming them, too? After all, late in the evening, Bryan said he was OK, and they’re the ones who left him alone…why aren’t you railing against them, too?


And why wait a YEAR after the incident to hire a P.I.? What’s next–a lawsuit, right?


Because the bar has a required minimum of $1million in Liquor Liability and another $1million in General Liability. Proximate cause must be found. An attorney can certainly find their way to the money in litigation…but proximate cause of his death wasn’t the train; it apparently was his intoxication and that is an attraction for any attorney looking for m.o.n.e.y….


… close to three times the legal limit for DRIVING.


Are you sure there is a legal limit of .08 BAC for simply existing?


O.k. not to be callous but from what I have read in news then and now I don’t see anything that suggests murder.


Sounds like drank to much and passed out on tracks. I had a friend of mine 25+ years ago pass out in the middle of the road over by Spanish Camp. He wondered away from a group of us. Lucky for him I noticed him missing and went looking for him and found him, before someone came along. It happens. I am sorry for the family but I agree with Mr. Murphy and think that the Paso P.D. is doing their job fine and this is probably nothing more than a tragic accident.


You’re not being callous; you’re exercising common sense. Looking at the facts that have been presented in various media sources, there’s just no evidence that points to a “murder.” Of course the family has every right to hire a P.I. (if it were our kids, we’d do the same) but hopefully whatever evidence he gathers will point to the cold, hard facts. It’s then up to the family to accept whatever comes out of the investigation–whether they agree or not.