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Sacramento Police Speak Out After Response Time Called Into Question

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Sacramento Police are speaking after being accused of responding late to a shooting outside a Midtown bar.

The accusations stem from witness accounts laid out in a Sacramento Bee article from Monday that the police department says are simply not factual.

Police say they have a high concentration of officers patrolling on busy weekend nights.

"When we saw that, we knew that it wasn't correct. We had to correct it and show our community what the actual facts of that case were," said Sergeant Bryce Heinlein.

Two men were shot outside the Flame Club early Saturday morning. The Sacramento Bee reported that it took officers 20 minutes to respond. They got the information from two witnesses who told the bee "police arrived about 20 minutes after shots were fired at around 1 a.m."

But police say that's far from the truth.

"The 911 call came in at 1:32 a.m., it took us approximately three minutes to get to the scene, for our first officers to get on scene, they got there at 1:35 a.m.," said Heinlein.

Taking to Facebook in an effort to be transparent, the department released the dispatch logs from that night that showing the officers arriving in three minutes.

The witnesses in the Bee article also claimed the officers "didn't medically tend to the two men right away."

"It's not an accurate statement. I had the opportunity to view the in-car camera of the officers. Two officers arrived, got out of their patrol cars, assessed the situation and within 30 seconds they were administrating aid to the suspects that were shot," said Heinlein.

"I think it's sad that the police have to defend themselves when they're doing their job," said local Tony Bures.

After the posting, there was an outpouring of support for the Sacramento Police Department on social media, and many appreciated the transparency

"You can't lie about the logs that are the digital recordings. So when they produce this stuff so people can actually see what the truth is, I think it's fantastic," said Sacramento resident Thomas Ramey.

The witnesses were identified in the article as members of the Black Lives Matter movement.

CBS13 reached out to BLM Sacramento to speak with them directly, but did not receive a call back.

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