On Tuesday, a 16-year-old in Cincinnati was crushed to death in his car after 911 failed to direct police to the proper location of the desperate teen.
One of the operators who took the call and allegedly failed to relay crucial information once posted on Facebook that she “hated” her job, according to CrimeOnline:
“I’m always at work and working overtime… all it does (is) makes us hate our job and hate the people that are off for months… Just feel like venting. That’s all. Nothing will change.”
Kyle Plush, a teenager in Cincinnati, called 911 at least twice when his seat flipped over in his car. He was in the third-row of a Honda Odyssey minivan when the seat flipped and pinned him to the ground. The teenager was trying to reach his tennis equipment when the accident took place.
Plush had called 911 twice trying to get help. When he called he gave a description of the minivan, as well as his location to the dispatcher. Somehow, the dispatcher failed to give police the proper location of the van and the responding officer was unable to locate him.
Around 3 pm on Tuesday, Plush made his first call to 911.
“I’m going to die here. “I probably don’t have much time left. Tell my mom I love her if I die,” Plush cried out.
The local Cincinnati police responded to the call along with a Hamilton County deputy sheriff but were unable to locate Plush. They tried calling him back, but there was no response.
At 3:35 pm, Plush called 911 again. Amber Smith, a dispatcher for the emergency response line picked up the second call.
He told Smith, “I probably don’t have much time left, so tell my mom that I love her if I die.”
When he didn’t get a response he responded, “This is not a joke. This is not a joke. I’m trapped inside my gold Honda Odyssey van in the sophomore parking lot of Seven Hills [unintelligible]. Send officers immediately. I’m almost dead.”
“Can you hear me?” He asked.
“Hey Siri,” he prompted his phone.
Smith failed to relay any of this information to police officers. Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac stated, “the dispatcher did not communicate with the caller.”
The team failed to find Plush but six hours later his dad did. But what he found was his son’s dead body, crushed, in his car.
Alex Smith, the second dispatcher, responsible for not getting the cars make and model from Plush was placed on administrative leave.
She also failed to relay the key information Plush gave, which was the location of the boy’s car.
The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office has already launched a formal investigation into Plush’s death.
“Something has gone terribly wrong. We need to find out why”Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said at a Thursday news conference.
He added:
We owe the Plush family and the public a detailed and comprehensive explanation of everything that has been done, recommendations made and actions taken at the 911 center that could have had any bearing on the practices that may have contributed to this tragedy. We must also be made aware if preventable flaws or failures have worsened emergency situations. As elected officials, we need to be involved directly in evaluating all available information and insist the proper solutions be adopted.
Prior to Plush’s death, Smith had been complaining on social media about having to work overtime at her job. She posted on Facebook several times, the last being on Friday.
She also wrote a post back in May of 2017, complaining about how she hates her job because of the overtime she has to work.
“I’m always at work and working overtime…all it does [is] make us hate our job and hate the people that are off for months…Just feel like venting. That’s all. Nothing will change,” she wrote.
There is a lesson to be learned in this heartbreaking story. It teaches us the grave importance of always working to the best of your ability, at what God has called us to do. You never know the importance of your presence in a place and time, which is why it is important to always strive to do the best you can do.
Smith could have been there to help save the sixteen-year-olds life, but instead, she was focused on hating her job. Because she failed to realize the importance of her job, and good work ethic, a young boys life was lost.
It is important to always work hard at where you are currently placed because you never know what the bigger picture is.