Queen Creek police chief explains why police left party area before attack on Preston Lord

PHOENIX — The Queen Creek Police Department released a report on the investigation into Preston Lord’s death last week. Now the department is getting flak for some of the unearthed details — and the police chief, Randy Brice, wants to clear up the air.

The main controversy focuses on the fact that police were in the area of the massive house party in Queen Creek on Oct. 28, 2023, the night Lord was assaulted by a group of youths. He died in the hospital two days later.

The department’s police report is over 1,000 pages and has more than 40 minutes of 911 calls. It said there were over 200 people in the area, making the scene chaotic.

“I appreciate the opportunity to provide some clarification on this,” Brice told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Thursday.

Some critics say the officers shouldn’t have left the scene quickly. However, Brice said the first call the QCPD received calling them to the general area was a non-emergency call from a resident reporting a disturbance caused by juveniles in the area.

“That was the only call that we received that night,” Brice said. “There was a second one that came to the dispatch center but was never given to us.”

Furthermore, a high-priority call came in for a domestic violence incident while officers were en route, he added. However, they continued to the scene of the house party and saw lots of kids leaving the area and going back to their vehicles.

“They did not see any type of crime, nothing that they had to intercede in right away,” Brice said. “When this higher priority call was still holding, they were asked again to respond to it, so they broke from that call and responded to this higher priority call.”

Follow @KTAR923