DC firefighters call 911 for woman attacking them with a knife & can’t get help
Watch story & listen to firefighters call for help
Someone needs to be fired. Maybe a bunch of someones. Once again, 911 in the Nation’s Capital proves it’s not up to the job of protecting the public or even the city’s firefighters.
DC Fire & EMS Department radio traffic obtained by WRC-TV/NBC4 reporter Mark Segraves shows the 911 center, or Office of Unified Communications (OUC), does not know what to do when firefighters say they are in harm’s way and need help from police.
.@dcfireems attacked by woman with knife are told @DCPoliceDept refuse to respond to radio calls for help. Listen to radio request for help pic.twitter.com/b0tBfLvoGF
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) October 6, 2016
What should have been a high priority call was relegated to either we will deal with it whenever or we aren’t dealing with it at all. It’s clear that some employees of OUC don’t know the difference between a citizen abusing 911 and the officer of a fire company calling for immediate help from police.
The terrible response to this incident is also occurring at the highest levels of the DC government. With the exception of a DC Police Department statement and a tweet quoting Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham, no one in city government was available to respond to questions from Mark Segraves.
(See tweets below.)
OUC Director Karima Holmes, Deputy Mayor Kevin Donahue and/or Mayor Muriel Bowser should have shown leadership by appearing on camera and making it clear to the public and to the firefighters that this type of performance will not be tolerated at the city’s 911 center. Anything less shows they are as bad at doing their jobs as the people who failed to send help to the firefighters of Engine 30.
Listen to more @dcfireems requesting @DCPoliceDept as woman attacks firefighter & is told police won't respond. Incident under investigation pic.twitter.com/3WMqwXnc9A
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) October 6, 2016
D.C. police are conducting an internal investigation after it took more than 20 minutes for police to provide backup to a firefighter and a paramedic who were being attacked by a woman with a knife — despite their repeated pleas for help.
Sources familiar with the investigation told News4 that about 2:44 a.m. Thursday, a firefighter and paramedic responded to a call about a heart attack at an apartment in the 500 block of 59th Street NE.
The D.C. Fire and EMS crew had responded to the same address several times before and the woman at the apartment had at one point threatened them with a knife, according to audio from their first call requesting police backup.
Here is @DCPoliceDept statement on delayed response to @dcfireems being attacked. So question now is: when did 911 dispatcher call police? pic.twitter.com/D68wtlMOay
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) October 6, 2016
Over a period of more than 20 minutes, the firefighter and paramedic made at least five more pleas for police to come to the scene and reported the woman was coming at them with a knife and trying to stab them.
“We need them here, now!,” the firefighter said during his fifth call to 911 at about 3 a.m.
Witnesses said the paramedic was wrestling with the woman trying to protect himself and get the knife from her as the firefighter pleaded with the dispatcher.
When they call for a sixth and final time, the dispatcher tells the firefighters that police are refusing to come.
“Per supervisor, they said officials advise they’re not coming back to that location,” the dispatcher said. The firefighter then responds, “Okay, well tell the supervisor she has a knife. She’s threatened to kill us and herself. 1033.”
Code 1033 means a firefighter’s life is in danger and they are requesting police.
More from @DCPoliceDept after @dcfireems requests back up. https://t.co/NiF1QmE2IN
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) October 6, 2016
Police units responded after that call, at least 21 minutes after the first call for help. The woman has been charged with assaulting an officer and making threats.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department gave News4 the following statement:
“The individual had called 911 approximately a dozen times in the preceding 24 hours. Each time, units from the Metropolitan Police Department or the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department responded, and in each instance, the individual refused assistance. During the call for service in question, the individual sought FEMS assistance for a medical issue; there was no initial report of any weapon or threats. Once MPD was informed that the individual was making threats and possessed a weapon, MPD units arrived on scene within two minutes. The individual was placed under arrest for assaulting an FEMS employee without further incident. We take the safety of our public safety colleagues very seriously and stand by to assist FEMS whenever they call.”
D.C. Fire and EMS, the 911 call center and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office denied News4’s requests to be interviewed, saying the incident is under investigation.
