Cleveland police chief: "No hesitation" by officers who found missing women
CLEVELAND When the three captives were liberated from their Seymour Street dungeon last week, Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath was worried that his men were not talking about survivors.
"So when they said, 'we found them,' after all this time, your first inclination was to think they meant bodies?" asked CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.
"Yes. The first thing that comes to your mind from past experiences is ... 'Aw Jesus,'" McGrath said. "And then they tell you: 'You know what? They're alive and well and you go, 'thank God.'"
McGrath praised his men for their quick response and their determination.
"There was no hesitation by those officers," he said. "They all crawled through the door and went into that house and looked in the house for other victims. And they secured the inside of the house. They didn't hesitate, so that's a tribute to them."
One of the first through the door was Officer Anthony Espada. In a report obtained by CBS News, Espada wrote that discovering the women at the house was like a "bombshell."
Espada encountered two captives on the second floor.
Michelle Knight jumped into his arms so fast he didn't have time to holster his gun. "She's like, 'you saved us, you saved us,'" he wrote.
Within seconds, Gina DeJesus was in his arms as well. "Very overwhelming," he wrote. "I mean it took everything to hold myself together."
Twenty-four minutes after Amanda Berry's initial 911 call, a dispatcher gave him more good news: "Hey Espada, we've got Onil Castro and Ariel Castro in custody down here at the McDonald's."
"Good to hear," Espada said. "Thank you."
