Sept. 1 (UPI) — An Arkansas police chief said the 911 operator in a released call that documented the last moments of a woman’s life before drowning “sounds calloused and uncaring,” but the operator followed proper policy.
The 22-minute 911 call released by the Fort Smith Police Department was placed at 4:38 a.m. Aug. 24 by Debra Stevens, 47, who reported being trapped inside her vehicle after driving into rising floodwaters.
The call featured a panicked Stevens describing the rising water and being unable to get out of her vehicle as it flooded.
“You’re not going to die,” the dispatcher can be heard saying in the recording. “I don’t know why you’re freaking out … You freaking out is doing nothing but losing your oxygen in there. So, calm down.”
Stevens repeatedly apologized to the dispatcher as she described the water filling her vehicle.
The dispatcher at one point lectured Stevens for driving into the water, which the woman, who had been out delivering the Southwest Times Record, said she hadn’t seen before it was too late.
“I don’t know how you didn’t see it. You had to go right over it. The water just didn’t appear,” the dispatcher said.
The dispatcher can be heard taking other calls while still on the line with Stevens about 15 minutes into the call.
About 18 minutes into the call, the dispatcher attempted to direct a firefighter to Stevens’ position.
“Miss Debbie, you’re going to have to shut up,” the dispatcher said. “Can you honk your horn?”
“My horn is dead,” Stevens said. “Everything is dead.”
Stevens told the dispatcher her car was starting to move in the water, and moments later she screamed and said she couldn’t breathe.
“I’m going to die!” Stevens said.
“Miss Debbie, you’re breathing just fine because you are screaming at me. So, calm down. I know you’re scared. Hold on for me. Miss Debbie? Miss Debbie? Oh my God. She sounds like she’s under water now,” the dispatcher said.
Stevens was not heard on the call again. Firefighters located her vehicle about 58 minutes after the end of the call. They were unable to revive her.
The police department said in a statement that the call was released “with great reluctance” after requests from the media.
“The recording contains the audio of a dying person’s last moments as well as the interaction between her and the 911 operator,” the statement said. “And while the operator’s response to this extremely tense and dynamic event sounds calloused and uncaring at times, sincere efforts were being made to locate and save Mrs. Stevens.”
Interim Police Chief Danny Baker told KHBS-TV the dispatcher may not have “realized or understood the severity of the situation,” but she acted within department guidelines.
“She did nothing criminally wrong,” he said. “I’m not even going to go so far as to say she violated policy.”
Police department spokesman Aric Mitchell said the dispatcher had previously submitted her two weeks’ notice Aug. 9, and the morning of Aug. 24 was her scheduled last day on the job.
