When DA Doorley blamed bad day after dealing with 3 murders, one activist says ‘We live in that reality’

Activist says his community lives with crime, violence every day

Activist says his community lives with crime, violence every day

MONROE COUNTY, N.Y. — Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley blamed her behavior the day police tried to pull her over for speeding, in part, on the fact that she was dealing with three murders in the city.

We went into the neighborhood where one of those murders happened and talked to a man who says they live with these bad days.

“I’ve had a really bad day. I’ve been dealing with murders in the city all day,” police body camera video shows Sandra Doorley telling the Webster Police officer who was trying to ticket her for speeding.

“I get it,” the officer replied. “We all have bad days.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Doorley said.
 
Berkeley Brean: “And when you heard that, you thought what?”
Justin Morris, Untrapped Ministries: “I thought that’s the reality we’re left in. We live in that reality.”

Justin Morris runs Untrapped Ministries, a non-profit that tries to take young people who are labeled high-risk and get them help and training.

The park where we met on First Street is surrounded by the trauma of murder.

“Well, TJ was 18 years old. He was killed in that field,” Morris said, pointing to Central Park. “You’ll go around the corner here and you’ll see a mural of Ceasar, a beloved figure in this community. Eddie Jackson was paralyzed right behind this field.”

And in the neighborhood, the weekend before Doorley’s speeding incident, a taxi driver was executed. That’s one of the three murders that Doorley was dealing with the day of her traffic stop.

“One thing that needs to be understood is that this is our community and when things like that happen we don’t get to escape,” Morris said.

Brean: “So if you live in this community you can’t use having a bad day as an excuse.”
Morris: “Never. We never could. We’re never given that option to say – ‘oh, it’s because I had a bad day, it’s because I seen this.’ There are people seeing these things that are far less equipped to deal with them mentally that are expected to go out in life and perform.”

Rochester Police arrested a man in the taxi driver murder. David Porter, 36, is charged with second-degree murder of David Treese III, along with robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.

In 2024, the District Atorney’s office has arraigned, achieved a conviction or been at the sentencing of 19 murder cases.