A 911 dispatcher in Arkansas scolded a woman stranded in floodwaters shortly before the woman drowned, prompting an investigation by police.
Debra Stevens, 47, was delivering newspapers at about 4:38 a.m. on Aug. 24 when her car was swept away by flash flooding waters and got stuck in a copse of trees off the roadway amid rising waters, Fort Smith police said. Stevens was unable to get out of her car, NBC affiliate KARK in Little Rock reported.
Her call to 911 was answered by then-dispatcher Donna Reneau, who was working her last shift as a 911 operator after she had presented her resignation earlier this month, KARK reported.
As waters continued to rise up past Stevens’ chest and cover her vehicle, she panicked.
Reneau told her “to stop…You’re not going to die. I don’t know why you’re freaking out.”
The dispatcher also said, “Ms. Debbie you’re going to need to shut up. I need to you to listen to me.” And, she said, “This will teach you next time don’t drive in the water…I don’t see how you didn’t see it, you had to go right over it, so?”
By the time first responders were able to reach Stevens and remove her from her car, at about 6 a.m., about and hour and a half after she called 911, she had drowned.
Fort Smith police Chief Danny Baker said in a statement that he was “heartbroken for this tragic loss of life.”
“All of our first responders who attempted to save Mrs. Stevens are distraught over the outcome. For every one of us, saving lives is at the very core of who we are and why we do what we do. When we are unsuccessful, it hurts,” Baker said.
Police said in a statement that they were releasing the recording of the call “with great reluctance” because it “contains the audio of a dying person’s last moments” as well as the interaction between her and the dispatcher.
“While the operator’s response to this extremely tense and dynamic event sounds calloused and uncaring at times, sincere efforts were being made to locate and save Mrs. Stevens,” the statement said.
It added that fire and police units “were inundated with 911 calls from other citizens also stranded in flood waters” at the time and that in addition Stevens “was having trouble describing her exact location and flooding limited the ability of first responders to reach her.”
“When first responders were finally able to pinpoint the location of Mrs. Stevens’ vehicle, the swift, rising water made immediate rescue impossible. An officer on scene removed his duty gear, donned a life vest, and was ready to enter the current tied to a rope but the speed and volume of water made this attempt futile,” the statement said.
Reneau had been with the department for five years and was a certified dispatch training officer, according to KARK. She had handed in her resignation on Aug. 9 and took the call during her last shift.
The police chief said he believes everything possible was done in the circumstances to save Stevens. But he said the department has begun “into our policies, our responses, our dispatch center…We’re looking at what we can do to increase training for our dispatchers in regards to swift water rescue and other things.”
A sister-in-law of Stevens told KARK that she had been a lifelong Fort Smith resident who loved children and was passionate about helping the elderly at her church.
She described her as someone who would go out of her way to help friends with doctors appointments and even cleaning their houses.
