Current Events > Woman drowns in flood after 911 dispatcher scolds her during her final moments

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/31/us/arkansas-woman-drowns-911-dispatcher/index.html

Here are some excerpts from the above article:

Debra Stevens was working her normal newspaper delivery route in Fort Smith, Arkansas, when rising flood waters began to overtake her SUV.

The final, desperate 911 call of the 47-year-old woman who delivered the Southwest Times Record to front doors came at 4:38 on the morning of August 24. It was a panicked 22-minute plea for help with a dispatcher that the Fort Smith Police Department admitted sounded "calloused and uncaring at times."

A terrified Stevens told the dispatcher over and over that she was going to die in the rapidly rising water.

...

"You're not going to die," the dispatcher said in audio released by police this week. "I don't know why you're freaking out...

"This will teach you next time don't drive in the water," the dispatcher told her.

Stevens cried uncontrollably.

"Miss Debbie you're going to have to shut up," the dispatcher said.

"I'm going to die," Stevens said.

"Miss Debbie, you're breathing just fine because you are screaming at me. So calm down.

...

Stevens is not heard again.

Thoughts?

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The dispatcher had already put in her two weeks too so literally nothing is going to happen to her

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"Sincere efforts" my asshole. Fuck that piece of shit dispatcher
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Punish her
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Thats manslaughter at least.
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I hate it when I hear stories about dispatchers asking people to give out info during something like a home invasion and person is hiding in closet. Like come on if they go out to see what the person looks like they could die. Even speaking could give away location.
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racism is so funny! haha! death!

BignutzisBack posted...

The dispatcher had already put in her two weeks too so literally nothing is going to happen to her

I hope that's not true.

I would make her submit a copy of the audio file of that call with every resume she sends to future employers.
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What a truly horrid way to go. Not so much the drowning itself. Thats bad enough on its own but the fact you're going to drown and the only person you can communicate with just doesnt give a fuck. Truly heartbreaking.

I dont get how someone can be on the phone and this not affect them. If it were me it would scar me for life. How people can go through life and be completely indifferent to seeing other people suffer just amazes me. People like that dont deserve the benefits of being part of this society. Proper Middle Ages mentality not fit for the 21st centaurs.
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Fry her
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A lot of people half-ass it on their final shift at a job but how about don't go "heartless and cruel bitch" on your last day.
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She should be charged with manslaughter and tbh theres probably an argument to be made for murder
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Truly fucked up

Is there an audio clip

Evil.
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This sounds more like a bad comedy sketch.

It's honestly kinda funny that this actually happened.
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butthole666 posted...

She should be charged with manslaughter and tbh theres probably an argument to be made for murder

I fail to see how you could possible get the dispatcher on manslaughter or murder.

JE19426 posted...

butthole666 posted...

She should be charged with manslaughter and tbh theres probably an argument to be made for murder

I fail to see how you could possible get the dispatcher on manslaughter or murder.

If the dispatcher ignored her calls and did not actually dispatch help, I can see it. But in this case? Nope. Nothing she did was illegal... just being an insensitive person.

For those who question how you can be so cruel, I can imagine dispatchers losing their sensitivity quite quickly on the job. Except for calls that shouldn't be made to 911, every call is a life/property threatening call. Imagine hearing these for 8 hours a day; you'll quickly learn to dissociate from it, otherwise you will never be able to handle that job.
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Wait did the dispatcher send help or not?
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De Evolution posted...

Wait did the dispatcher send help or not?

Dispatcher did send help.
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Feetish posted...

Thats manslaughter at least.

No it isn't

Don't make up crimes just because someone is a jerk.

She sent help. Being a dick about it doesn't make her guilty of manslaughter.
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This sounds more like a bad comedy sketch.

It's honestly kinda funny that this actually happened.

She was a Baptist that didn't want to go underwater.

What an awful way to go. Poor woman was terrified and the only person there to console her was some asshole on her last day on the job.
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ProudlyHated74 posted...

What an awful way to go. Poor woman was terrified and the only person there to console her was some asshole on her last day on the job.

Yes it's pretty sad. I feel bad for this lady. I feel like the dispatcher should face some kind of punishment. She might not have caused the death but this was cruelty

It isn't inherently illegal to be an awful person, but if it was, the dispatcher would get life imprisonment.

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Crepes posted...

I dont get how someone can be on the phone and this not affect them. If it were me it would scar me for life. How people can go through life and be completely indifferent to seeing other people suffer just amazes me. People like that dont deserve the benefits of being part of this society. Proper Middle Ages mentality not fit for the 21st centaurs.

I forget the term but pretty much if your exposed to a certain thing or evirement for enough it eventuall becuase the norm and you stop feeling great emotion toward it.

Like going to Disney world every day for years on end, after a while it just becomes 'meh' or being deployed and in a hostile environment for a long period of time long time dispatchers being put in this situation likely are in the same boat.
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Prismsblade posted...

I forget the term but pretty much if your exposed to a certain thing or evirement for enough it eventuall becuase the norm and you stop feeling great emotion toward it.

Desensitization.


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If you read the article, the dispatcher was trying to help, did say some fucked up stuff, but did also appear genuinely worried at the end. The truth of the matter is that the rescue team couldn't find her SUV because she couldn't tell them where she was because the floodwaters obfuscated everything.

I do wonder if there was really nothing this woman could have done to give herself more time, but I digress.

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