By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
Article Launched: 01/04/2008 04:47:19 PM PSTTwo San Jose brothers mauled by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day have refused to allow police to examine their cell phones for possible text messages or photos believed taken the day of tiger Tatiana's escape.
In a letter sent today to the brothers' attorney, celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis J. Herrera asked that Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal preserve "this potentially critical evidence."
"The digital content of your clients' cell phones, which we understand are currently in the possession of the police, may help reconstruct what happened at the tiger exhibit and cafe," Herrera wrote.
Geragos did not return a phone call from the Mercury News. He told the Mercury News earlier this week that news reports of his clients taunting the Siberian tiger before she escaped from her grotto were not true. A friend of the Dhaliwals', 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. of San Jose, was fatally mauled when the tiger escaped.
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The brothers have refused to speak publicly - or to Sousa's parents - about the incident. For police and city officials to examine the cell phones, they would need a warrant. To obtain the warrant, they would need to show probable cause. "In the interests of getting to the real facts of this tragedy, we propose a simultaneous inspection of the car and cell phones by experts retained by your clients and the City Attorney's Office," Herrera wrote in his letter to Geragos.
The city attorney also noted "there have also been reports that there is evidence in your clients' car of possible alcohol consumption." San Francisco Police Sgt. Steve Mannina confirmed this week that a vodka bottle was in the Dhaliwals' car. Herrera aid the inspection of the car and cell phones should take place "at the time the property is released by the SFPD and before you or your client take custody of it." more at link:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_7883971?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1