Probably not. But the facts that have come out about the drowning death of the Obamas’ private chef, Tafari Campbell, are distinctly odd.
Campbell drowned in Edgartown, on Martha’s Vineyard, while paddle boarding. While the incident happened on Great Edgartown Pond, not Poucha Pond where Ted Kennedy drowned Mary Jo Kopechne, the locale is nevertheless resonant. The Daily Mail reports that Campbell was not paddle boarding alone, but “police refuse to name the person he was with.” Why might that be?
The first report of Campbell’s distress (“that he had fallen in and could not make it back to the surface”) was telephoned into law enforcement from–if I am reading the Mail’s somewhat confusing account correctly–the Obamas’ house, which is a short distance from where the drowning occurred. The police haven’t identified who made that call, but “[t]hey also confirm that the original 911 call to report what had happened came from a female.”
Only it apparently wasn’t a 911 call. The Dukes County Sheriff’s office’s log for the evening lists a reason for every call except this one. It also identifies Wilson’s Landing, not the Obamas’ home, as the locus–the source, I take it–of the call:
This is curious:
[Edgartown police chief Bruce McNamee] could only speculate on why the reason for the call is left blank, saying it may be because the caller from Obama’s property didn’t dial 911, which automatically generates location data, and instead made a direct call to a business line.
As I say, curious. Why would a person reporting an emergency not dial 911, but rather look up the number for the sheriff’s department? Possibly the caller knew that a 911 call would automatically record the source of the call. Or perhaps the caller knew that all 911 calls are taped. Or there might be some other explanation, or the police chief’s speculation could be wrong.
So Campbell was paddle boarding with someone, but the police won’t say who. A woman reported that he had fallen off his board and apparently was unable to swim, but we don’t know who made that report. That same unidentified woman is later described as being out in a boat, looking for Campbell. No one seems to be talking.
Campbell drowned on Sunday evening. On Tuesday, Malia and Sasha Obama, ages 25 and 22 respectively, left Martha’s Vineyard by air. It may well have been a long-scheduled departure. The toxicology report on Campbell has not yet been returned. You wouldn’t normally think that a person who can’t swim would go paddle boarding, even on a calm pond, but anything is possible.
I don’t mean to suggest anything particularly sinister. There is zero reason to think Campbell’s death was due to anything except natural causes. But the police department’s silence as to who his companion was, and as to what woman reported the incident and then was in a boat looking for the chef, is certainly striking. And the authorities on Martha’s Vineyard have a history of accommodating famous Democratic politicians. Maybe more will come out about this story; and then again, maybe not.
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