By Joe Eskenazi
The San Francisco Police Department's may have called in a platoon of new investigators to probe Dan Kliman's death, but, for all we know, they brought in a troupe of Marcel Marceaus.
Gone are the days when garrulous Inspector Matt Krimsky would give detailed breakdowns of the police's working theory and shoot off classic one-liners like: "There is no evidence of foul play whatsoever. Underscore that, bold it and print it with an exclamation point."
Sgt. Wilfred Williams, the SFPD's public information officer, confirmed Monday that Krimsky is off the case. Apparently, when Inspector James Spillane took over, there was no room for Krimsky on his team of rivals. Williams said this kind of change isn't uncommon; Krimsky is a hit-and-run detective who also investigates workplace deaths while Spillane is in homicide (Williams is quick to say that this case is being investigated as a "death," not a "homicide.").
Fair enough. But it's probably a halfway decent bet that Krimsky is gone largely thanks to being a little too quotable. He talked shop about the Kliman investigation on the Michael Savage show, for God's sake!
Krimsky departs with more than his witty banter. Gone also are his
guarantees and deadlines. The inspector had said that "for the record"
this case would be done and done by Dec. 15. No one will ever mistake
Wilfred Williams for George Gershwin, but both of them now sing the
same tune: It Ain't Necessarily So.
Williams said that the
police are waiting on a report on the elevator from the state's
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) to come
back. When will that happen? Sometime between today and the end of
time.
And as for Krimsky's Done-By-Chanukah timeline? That's
uncertain, too. Perhaps we'll have a Chanukah miracle right here in San
Francisco -- the police force that only had enough gumption to keep
quiet to the press for one day will be able to blow us off for eight.
