San Antonio police Chief William McManus admitted on Tuesday to "unfortunate errors" made while handling calls hours before officers found a woman raped and murdered early Friday morning.(from KENS-5)
McManus explained that a caller reported a disturbance overnight at 835 Menchaca St., but that the call taker recorded the address as 1135 Menchaca St. The incorrect address was passed on to the dispatcher, who in turn sent officers to the wrong home.
"The initial error was dispatching to 1135 as opposed to 835," McManus said. "The officers were sidetracked from that."
Police received another report shortly after about a possible assault at nearby Elmendorf and Micklejohn. McManus said officers heard screaming from a home, were let inside by a woman and found a man flushing drugs down the toilet.
That toilet-flushing scene was not what the original call was about. The original call was about something else, something that ended badly, and something that wasn't discovered until it was way, way too late.
I don't mean to beat up on the police here, but an important lesson can be taken away from this: Emergency responders can make mistakes, and those mistakes could turn out very bad for you if you are the one calling for help. Be prepared to fend for yourself, and be prepared for the possibility that help may not be coming your way. It may be the most necessary mental shift you ever make.
1 comment:
I couldn't agree more. There are simply going to be times when things don't work as planned. How many times do police cars get in crashes on the way to the scene of the crime? I know for a fact that if you punch in my address into a Garmin, you'll end up a mile or two over in the middle of a field. Even if the dispatcher does get it right, there is no guarantee that help will arrive immediately.
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