911 gives no answer??

[TXLawGirl]

I would be pissed if I was this mom--

Mother Says 9-1-1 Calls Not Answered — (11/04/2006)
BEVERLY HILLS - A mother speaks out after her infant son dies and calls for help go unanswered.
The incident happened at the Willow Apartments in Beverly Hills on early Monday morning.

Two month old Luciano Dominguez died Monday morning after he stopped breathing.

His mother frantically called 9-1-1 from her home phone, but says she had to hang-up and call again numerous times.

She was never able to get through.

Neighbors heard the mother's screams and called for help from cell phones.

Luciano's mother says had she been able to get through to 9-1-1 the first time her son would still be alive.

"They caused me my little boy's life. He's in the ground. He doesn't look like himself. He's in the ground in an unmarked grave because of them," Tina Dominguez said.

The 9-1-1 dispatch center says they take this matter very seriously. They couldn't confirm or deny whether the calls were made.

The Waco Dispatch Center, which handles Beverly Hills 9-1-1 calls, tells News Channel 25 at least six dispatchers were working on Monday morning.

Officials with the dispatch center also tell us whether calling for help from either a mobile or a land-line phone do not hang up, because it could take even longer for help to arrive.

[Valor55]

I wonder if she was using a traditional land line or a VOIP service? Most VOIP services don't have a traditional 911. When you dial 911 on VOIP they essentially forward the call to a department phone number. It might be the non-emergency call in or an office number that doesn't even go into dispatch. You won't know until you dial 911. That may explain why nobody answered.

[WhiteLite]

Valor: Agreed.

[madsnax]

She is blaming the death of her child on the dispatchers for not answering?

Sounds like she may have been frantically TRYING to dial 911 but under such pressure she may have been hitting the wrong keys. It just seems like there is something else to it. I've never heard of someone repeatedly dialing 911 and not getting a dispatcher.

[Ginig]

Unfortunately, I had a similar experience in Dallas, though the hold time was less than a minute IIRC.

[MDEMT280]

When we would "ring over," (calls not being answered immediately), calls were placed in a queue and emergency calls were answered in the order in which they were received. Non-emergency calls got in line behind the emergency calls. Like Valor said, if it's VOIP, it could have been ringing the non-emergency line, which is the lowest priority.

The other thing is, if you are placed in a queue when you call 911, DO NOT hang up. That removes you from your place in line, and when you call again, you go to the BACK of the line. Dropped calls and hang-ups are monitored and called back, but only after the "ring over" situation is cleared.

[Ironhead]

Since the dispatch center has not issued a statement, we are only hearing one side of the story. As we all know, one side is hardly ever 100% accurate.

There's more to this that we don't know

[MrJim911]

Agreed, I'd like to see what the Center comes up with when they look into it.

[james13f]

Even if she was dialing 911, and it was going through properly, her repeatedly hanging up would have been enough to delay any response.

I've seen people wait 3-5 minutes for 911 here.

I guess it takes a City Councilman waiting that long before we get the funding for more positions.

[StationM]

So, she called and then hung up numerous times?

So that means that all those 911 operators were trying to call her back, getting busy signals, trying a second call back, then trying an operator interrupt which would come back as "off the hook", thereby tying up resources.

If she has stayed on the line, someone would have answered. It's not like you get a busy signal, you get a message telling you to stay on the line. Some agencies even have directions on how to get a spanish speaking calltaker.

Too bad she didn't know infant CPR either.

[greenlead]

There is a local company that provides phone service to people who have had their traditional phone line disconnected due to lack of payment. This company is infamous for unreliability.

I wonder if she was using this sort of service.

[JD45]

So, she called and then hung up numerous times?

So that means that all those 911 operators were trying to call her back, getting busy signals, trying a second call back, then trying an operator interrupt which would come back as "off the hook", thereby tying up resources.

Exactly

[Samuel]

So, she called and then hung up numerous times?

So that means that all those 911 operators were trying to call her back, getting busy signals, trying a second call back, then trying an operator interrupt which would come back as "off the hook", thereby tying up resources.

If she has stayed on the line, someone would have answered. It's not like you get a busy signal, you get a message telling you to stay on the line. Some agencies even have directions on how to get a spanish speaking calltaker.

Too bad she didn't know infant CPR either.

repped

[suzanne1020U.S.]

I take it there is a Beverly Hills in Waco, Texas?
Am I correct on this?

[txinvestigator1]

I take it there is a Beverly Hills in Waco, Texas?
Am I correct on this?

Yep