[Millee]

I heard the calls. The dispatcher was clearly disinterested in the calls. She sounded like the calls were disrupting her coffee break. Very sad.

[ncountylee]

The dispatcher wasn't fired?

[Tax-chick]

And sad that the lady wasn't armed and prepared to defend herself, but instead thought she could rely on police. She can't have been unaware that her "ex-fiance" was a nutcase.

[PaulaB]

This makes me so angry.

Why wouldn't you send someone?

Not sure what the mother intends on accomplishing

through the lawsuit though. I hope the city has

already fired her.

[Flavius]

I love 911,

last time i had to use it i got taped answering service

... ahh basically as always one is on her/his own in most emergency cases

[coloradan]

"no evidence" that Price's actions were "anything more than simple negligence."

Negligence leading to death. I would go for criminal charges here, but then again, this is the police we're talking about. Lords are held to a different standard than we peasants.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I would bet that it will be dismissed because of the prior rulings that the police (i.e. the government) has no obligation to protect the individual.

[Dallas59]

This lady is dead. I listened to both calls. Complete negligence on the part of the operator.

[Alberta's Child]

Cases like this are the most compelling reasons why most government-run emergency services shouldn't even exist. If the State is not responsible for the protection of its own citizens, then the State has no business implementing a 911 system in the first place.

[MineralMan]

You can hear the two 911 calls here:

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=5ea4910a-0abe-421a-0071-3fb72baad887&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[MineralMan]

I listened to both calls as well. It was instructive. The 911 operator wasn't that interested. The first caller, a man, made a couple of mistakes.

First, he didn't insist from the beginning that it was an emergency.

Second, on being asked whether the woman was screaming or whatever, he stayed calm and said that she wasn't.

The mother, in the second call, was also too calm and simply didn't get through to this bored 911 operator.

Here's a tip, if you ever have to call 911 in a case like this:

Say, "I think I saw a gun. It was black."

Do not be calm in your call. Do not take no for an answer from the 911 operator.

Answer question in the affirmative, as in "Was she screaming?" "Yes, she was screaming her head off....hurry! The man looked like he was going to kill her!"

[Doctor Stochastic]

If this is a fire press 1.
If this is a break-in press 2.
If this is a joke press 3.
If this is a terrorist incident press 4.
If this is nuclear war, don't bother.

"2"

Enter the number of intruders on your followed by the # sign.

If the intruder has a knife, press 1.
If the intruder has a gun, press 2.
If the intruder isn't armed, press 3.

"2"

For shotguns press 1.
For handguns press 2.
For hunting rifles press 3.
For assault rifles press 4.
If you cannot tell, press 0 for the help line on firearm identification.

........

[md2576]

the city has argued that there is "no evidence" that Price's actions were "anything more than simple negligence."

Many get sued and lose for their negligence all the time. Not a very good argument.

[narby]

I have a bit of a problem with how 911 systems are handled. My father-in-law died this summer, and when my mother-in-law called 911 they spent all kinds of time trying to coach her into moving and resuscitating him. The problem is she was physically incapable of doing it and, and told the 911 operator, who still refused to send an ambulance until she was convinced that my M-I-L was telling the truth.

I could understand it if they dispatched the ambulance, and THEN tried to coach a resuscitation. But instead they argued on the phone while my father-in-law died of heart congestion. Basically he drowned.

I'd bet money that they were trying to save money by not dispatching an ambulance right off, hoping they wouldn't need to.

[jordan8]

The dispatcher reaction is not all that outrageous given the information the caller is giving her. Her attitude is also not that bad. I've called 911 or the non-emergency police line on many occasions and most of the time the dispatchers were far more surly than this one.