NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Some News 2 viewers questioned the emergency response after a huge tree fell on cars at an apartment complex in east Nashville.
Chief of the Emergency Communications Center, Duane Phillips, said a dispatcher made “a mistake” when responding to a 911 call about a tree falling at Howe Garden Apartment complex.
Questions were originally raised the day of the incident after firefighters never showed up, even though resident Linda Rogers called 911 and told the dispatcher she wasn’t sure if anyone was injured. “We don’t know, that’s the unknown. It fell into a parking lot of the apartment with many cars and we don’t know if anyone was in the parking lot. If they were they’re dead,” Rogers told the dispatcher during the 911 call.
The dispatchers make the decision of which agency to send to emergencies. Phillips told News 2 that the dispatcher Rogers spoke with made “a mistake.”
According to a spokeswoman with Metro police who supplied News 2 with a timeline of what happened, the first officer didn’t arrive at the scene of the tree fall until about thirty minutes after Rogers called 911.
“It was a very low key response to what I thought was maybe a life or death experience,” said Rogers.
Gilbert Goodman, another resident of Howe Gardens, said his girlfriend usually leaves for work around the same time the tree came crashing down. The tree crushed her car. “She would have been severely injured or killed,” said Goodman.
“It did add a certain cynicism for the response to situations that could be life endangering,” Goodman said about the response.
Phillips says the dispatcher’s supervisors are investigating. Rogers said she appreciates the fact they’re looking into it now.
According to Phillips, once the supervisors are done investigating they will be taking “corrective or disciplinary action.”
Source: news2
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