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911 operator: 'I wish I recognized the urgency' at Powell house
msnbc.com ^ | 2/10/12 | King 5 news

Posted on 02/11/2012 3:10:44 PM PST by ColdOne

In an NBC Dateline interview, one of the 911 operators who took the call from the social worker outside Josh Powell's house, breaks his silence.

In an exclusive interview with NBC's Keith Morrison, David Lovrak, who's been taking heat for his questions when Elizabeth Griffin-Hall called him, says he, like so many others in this case, didn't recognize the kind of man they were dealing with.

"Especially for somebody who has done this for as long as I have, to relisten to the call and hear how clumsy and faltering I sounded," Lovrak said, "It was horrible. This has been a nightmare."

The Pierce County Sheriff's office says the first call came in at 12:08 on Sunday. Five minutes later, at 12:13, information

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: braden; charles; powell; susanpowell
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To: Engedi

Not to blame the social worker, but she had the power, responsibility and authority to demand immediate emergency status be placed on her call. “I am a county social worker under court order, two boys have been taken from me and I need immediate police backup.”. The children had been taken from her custody, kidnaped if you will and she was no longer in control of them as the court had ordered and she showed very little if any sense of urgency.


21 posted on 02/11/2012 4:15:48 PM PST by Toespi
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To: WXRGina

Nope.


22 posted on 02/11/2012 4:17:43 PM PST by ColdOne (I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11)
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To: wintertime; WXRGina
This transcript reads like the script to a comedy movie.....( except that is was real and the outcome so horrific.) that was my first take, i just didn't want to say anything.
23 posted on 02/11/2012 4:19:49 PM PST by ColdOne (I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11)
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To: Engedi
Never should of allowed visitation at his home

the same could have been said about an acquaintence of mine who had custody of his daughter and was arrested, thrown in jail and charged with sexually molesting her best friend.........

Should he have been denied custody of the daughter?

The answer is no because ultimately it was discovered that the girl had lied and that the ex-wife had coerced her into making the false charge.........

Since Powell had never been formally charged with any crime, he is entitled to every advantage that the legal system guarantees him.........

I've never met an armchair quarterback yet who has ever been wrong.........

24 posted on 02/11/2012 4:25:24 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (The only solution to this primary is a shoot out! Last person standing picks the candidate)
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To: ColdOne; wintertime

It was almost a “Who’s on First” kind of thing.

This is the link I was originally trying to find, and just now found it again. This has BOTH 911 call transcripts from the social worker (down in the article a little way). The second 911 call was when the house exploded. It was not a whole lot better than the first (maybe a little better, because it was finally AN EMERGENCY):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098876/A-history-violence-Josh-Powells-mother-filed-papers-saying-threatened-butcher-knife-teen.html


25 posted on 02/11/2012 4:36:13 PM PST by WXRGina (Further up and further in!)
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To: ColdOne
As a society, when it comes to child protective services, we only have but one of two choices;
Whether to error on the side of being overly cautious and risk separating kids from decent parents...
Or error on the side of being too lenient, knowing there are times when a child will come to harm at the hand of their own parent.

The point being, when it comes to messy domestic disputes, errors are inevitable, we just have to choose which one we can live with.

As a small, less intrusive government conservative, I want the bar to be very high before the state can take away someones own child.

26 posted on 02/11/2012 4:47:09 PM PST by Tex-Con-Man (T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII 2012 - "Together, I Shall Ride You To Victory")
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To: Cicero

Agreed.


27 posted on 02/11/2012 4:55:27 PM PST by ColdOne (I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11)
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To: berdie

Yeah the delays are upsetting. Utah had images on Josh’s computer from awhile ago (years?) of cartoon depictions of incest. They were “available” to the prosecuting attorney prior to the latest trial - but they were not presented to him. Those images I imagine would have had a big say in how the visitations went.

And I know the cops in our town say that when we call 911 and report something they usually are on their way at the very beginning of the call and the operator is talking and getting more information while the cops are on their way.

And I think Graham is a bit like our suburb where the cops aren’t too busy. They even have told my daughters to give them a call if some guy seems “creepy” to them walking home from school or something. They said they’ll swing by and if they see the guy watch for how he reacts to a squad car, etc.


28 posted on 02/11/2012 4:57:50 PM PST by 21twelve
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To: WXRGina; wintertime
It has also been revealed that when Powell was a teenager, he threatened his mother with a butcher knife and tried to kill himself. In court papers from 1992, Terrica Powell wrote: 'I felt extreme fear when Josh made a veiled threat at me with a butcher knife in his hand. 'His demeanour was menacing for a moment as he said, "Don't push it, mom,"… I was terrified and left the room to go downstairs.' hmmmpt!
29 posted on 02/11/2012 5:00:19 PM PST by ColdOne (I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11)
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To: ColdOne; wintertime

That Josh Powell and his dad—man! They both appear to have been sick puppies! Probably the dad is the beast—and turned his son into a beast, too—from childhood sexual abuse (only my guess).

The world is a sick, dark and dying place.


30 posted on 02/11/2012 5:04:27 PM PST by WXRGina (Further up and further in!)
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To: ColdOne

Naw, someone calling 911 is just wanting to gab a while.


31 posted on 02/11/2012 5:04:44 PM PST by bgill (Romney & Obama are both ineligible. A non-NBC GOP prez shuts down all ?s on Obama's admin)
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To: Sacajaweau

The kids died of smoke inhalation, so they were still alive before the house was consumed, although gravely wounded by their father’s hatchet attack.


32 posted on 02/11/2012 5:05:23 PM PST by rabidralph
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To: ColdOne

When seconds count ...


33 posted on 02/11/2012 5:06:58 PM PST by NonValueAdded (Limbaugh: Tim Tebow miracle: "He had atheists praying to God that he would lose.")
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To: WXRGina; ColdOne

Having watched both TV specials last night, with special attention to the 911 call, I would fire that operator in an instant and make sure he never again works in a capacity where public safety is at stake.

Something is seriously missing with the guy when he wastes time playing juvenile word games with the caller. He is clearly in over his head in that job, doesn’t know what to ask, how to ask and has no discernment. But, there are many operators like this. Listening to him and reading the transcript just infuriated me.

Of course, the whole story is abysmal. Those poor little boys never had a chance.


34 posted on 02/11/2012 5:07:43 PM PST by La Enchiladita
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To: wintertime

Exactly. That dialogue was bizarre.


35 posted on 02/11/2012 5:08:53 PM PST by La Enchiladita
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To: ColdOne; wintertime

PS: I did not mean to downplay the fact that Josh Powell is a worse beast than his father—I was only saying that his father likely warped his head from a young age. The end result of what Josh did is much worse, and Josh is fully responsible for his own actions, no matter what his father may have done to him as a child.


36 posted on 02/11/2012 5:09:49 PM PST by WXRGina (Further up and further in!)
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To: NonValueAdded

...we’re only minutes away...


37 posted on 02/11/2012 5:11:31 PM PST by WXRGina (Further up and further in!)
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To: La Enchiladita

Yes, La ‘Dita, the whole darned story is hellish. I’m with you on the dispatcher guy. He claims he’s been doing this for “so long,” yet he has no ability to listen—to hear and discern, like you said. Maybe he’ll learn now.


38 posted on 02/11/2012 5:14:44 PM PST by WXRGina (Further up and further in!)
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To: RJS1950
The real problem here is the complete stupidity of the social services twits who know the complete situation and yet turn over the kids to the suspect father at his own home with inadequate supervision to ensure their safety.

They are just carrying out the evil of the real villains -- the liberal judges who make these kinds of rulings that an obviously unstable parent gets to spend time alone with the kids.

It happened here in Maryland to the children of a pediatrician, whose husband was certifiably mentally ill, yet he got awarded unsupervised custody over her distraught pleadings -- she was threatened with loss of custody if she kept complaining -- and he killed his two little boys in a Baltimore hotel room.

39 posted on 02/11/2012 5:16:18 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("The facts of life are Tory." -- Margaret Thatcher)
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To: WXRGina
Transcript of social worker’s first call to 911...

Ohhh. That poor woman. She told him she smelled gasoline. He just kept trying to spell Powell. "Two L's on the end?" What a jackhole.

40 posted on 02/11/2012 5:21:41 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("The facts of life are Tory." -- Margaret Thatcher)
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