Before anyone could respond, Charlottesville police Chief Timothy J. Longo interjected, advising that officials abstain from answering because of the ongoing police investigation of the allegation.

“It was my desire to have the question asked by the appropriate investigators,” Longo said in an email Monday. “In my opinion, it would have been inappropriate for the president to be making on the record public comments on specific details of this matter while our investigation is underway. Doing so may create the possibility that any subsequent response may become tainted or otherwise unduly influenced by a response previously given by someone who may or may not have been the person who first received the information or otherwise acted upon it.”

University officials have repeated Longo’s reference to the investigation in declining to answer questions about the timing and nature of the allegations as they were revealed to top school administrators, including Sullivan.