The local police commander of the Bloomfield, PA neighborhood where McCain-Palin volunteer Ashley Todd says she suffered a politically-motivated robbery Wednesday night tells the Huffington Post that Todd "did some things that, in my professional opinion, are not what a normal victim would have done."
Noting the several inconsistencies that have cropped up in Todd's multiple statements to police, Pittsburgh Zone 5 Police Commander Larry Ross says the story "just keeps getting bigger and bigger." Ross also cited Todd's original hour-long delay in calling the police -- as well as her decision to "travel past one of the biggest hospitals in the area" to make that call -- as unusual.
Nevertheless, Ross warned that no firm judgments can be made based on his general assessment. "I've been doing this for 29 years. It's an individual thing, depending on the makeup of the victim."
Ross, who is the supervisor of the officer who took Todd's original Wednesday statement, underlined that political motivations did not figure at all into Todd's first interview with police. "There was no mention of that [political motivation] at all," in the first statement Ross confirmed.
As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Friday, Todd's accusation that her assailant cited her McCain bumper sticker as the cause for further attack came after her original statement -- as did claims that the assailant molested Todd after taking her money.
During her Thursday re-interview with other detectives, Todd also claimed that her assailant said: ""You are going to be a Barack supporter."
Ross confirmed that the investigation was now out of his officers' hands, and is being conducted by another team. He declined to disclose details of Todd's reported polygraph test on Friday, but said she would be coming back in for another interview "sometime this afternoon, based on her state of mind."