This Is Bull****…. Let me explain first and foremost:
I’m not criticising the work of the Fort Smith Police Department nor the Fire Department investigation. They did their job in the investigation.
My hat is off to the 911 operators (Telecommunicators) because they really had a tough time that night, beyond words could describe, but not taking anything away from the first responders, police, and fire departments.
This was a rough situation caused by mother nature and the situation was made a LOT worse by a woman who decided two weeks earlier to quit her job. On the last night she was scheduled to work, she didn’t know how bad it was, nor how to handle. I get that. And before anyone starts, no, sometimes you can’t see how deep the water is at night when there’s not enough light. That’s why they tell you when in doubt, “turn around, don’t drown.”
However, to literally hear a woman begging for her life as it is fleeting away faster than she can breath in, this dispatcher acted petty, unprofessional, and disrespectful to a situation that was already terrible. She didn’t even show an ounce of compassion toward another living (slowly dying) human being is just wrong, borderline evil. Even to the point of telling this poor woman to “shut up.” Satan, himself, would be laughing. It is my belief that she could have reduced the panic that the victim was experiencing had she used better judgement and chose her words more wisely during this conversation. It may have even saved the trapped drivers life long enough for when the first responders to rescue her. Might even talked her out of her car and inspired her to have a fighting chance.
When I first heard the call when it was released to the public, it made me sick in my stomach. In my radio career, I’ve gotten phone calls from people during the worst times of their lives and all they wanted was someone to listen to them, to talk with, to help understand why whatever was happening happened. From breakups to deaths, frustrated from job losses, to drunks talking about cheating partners, I’ve heard it all. So to a point, I can say that, without a doubt, every person calling in could be the real deal and it should be treated as such with compassion, dignity, and respect as a human being. Just because you are having a bad day or you don’t like your supervisors, doesn’t mean you get to take it out on innocent and needy people. I don’t care who the hell you think you are!
Any of my emergency friends on here can correct me if I am wrong, please educate me. All I can think about is how I would like my last few minutes to be if I was in the victim’s shoes. Think about it, the last voice she heard on this earth (besides her own) was a job-hating spiteful woman on the other end of the line telling her to “shut up” and “this will teach you next time don’t drive in the water…how you didn’t see it, you had to go right over it” as she is gasping for her final breath when the water is rushing in. That still breaks my heart to think that is the last thing this woman will ever hear in this plain of existence. I wonder how this former dispatcher would feel if that was the last words she heard as she was leaving this world? Again, it’s heartbreaking to think this is what is heard from someone who is supposed to be there to help you in your time of need.
I don’t know the woman who passed on, nor her family members, but I would hope that God is taking good care of them and giving them the comforting peace they need during this time of year.
As for the former dispatcher, I don’t wish ill-will on her because I have to believe that if she does have a conscious (admitted she felt bad for how she treated the victim), she should use this dark chapter to turn her life around to the point it compares to being a Nun. She should also apologize to the family members of the woman with the purest sincerity from what is left in her heart, if she hasn’t done so yet. She owes the family that much at least. My best advice to her is to stay away from customer service, phone-oriented consulting, and emergency service jobs because she has failed to show compassion toward her fellow human beings.
