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911 dispatcher
The 911 dispatcher, who spoke to Amanda Berry after she escaped from the Cleveland house of horrors, is being investigated over claims he swore at the end of her emergency call.
The operator has previously been criticized for failing to keep Amanda Berry on the line or comfort her during her desperate call for help.
But now new allegations have been made that the dispatcher calls Amanda Berry a “f****** b****” just before hanging up.
It was Amanda Berry’s 911 call that led to the discovery of fellow kidnap victims Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight after she bravely escaped the house on Seymour Avenue.
The three women had been held captive at the house for about a decade where they were repeatedly raped and tortured.
Suspect Ariel Castro, 52, remains on suicide watch in custody as he faces preliminary charges of rape and kidnapping.
Amanda Berry finally broke free with the help of a neighbor and raised the alarm.
The 911 dispatcher – one of the first people Amanda Berry spoke to after her decade long captivity – has come under fire for the way he handled the conversation with the clearly distressed 26-year-old.
Experts in the U.S. say a muffled sound at the end of the call is the dispatcher cursing at Amanda Berry.
Audio forensic experts hired by Cleveland station 19 Action News believe swear words were used.
The dispatcher is now being investigated by Cleveland City Hall, according to reports.
Cleveland station WOIO has reported that the results from an investigation by a police forensic audio team were inconclusive.
One of the 19 Action News experts says the “second word is b****”, while the second believes the dispatcher said “f****** b****”.
During the two-minute conversation, Amanda Berry, is heard screaming down the phone: “I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years, and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now.”
But multiple times the dispatcher’s response was: “Talk to the police when they get there,” before asking the name of Amanda Berry’s captor, as well as his age and ethnicity.
In the 911 call Amanda Berry implores the dispatcher that she needs the police immediately, but she is told authorities will be sent as soon as a “car becomes open”.
At one point when she says: “I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years,” the dispatcher replies: “I got that, dear.”
As Amanda Berry becomes more frantic the dispatcher says: “The police are on their way; talk to them when they get there.”
The 911 dispatcher, who spoke to Amanda Berry after she escaped from the Cleveland house of horrors, is being investigated over claims he swore at the end of her emergency call
The dispatcher, whose identity has not been revealed, repeats again: “I told you they’re on their way; talk to them when they get there, OK.”
Last month, Cleveland Department of Public Safety Director Martin Flask said police were dispatched and on scene in the west side neighborhood in less than two minutes.
“While the call-taker complied with policies and procedures which enabled a very fast response by police, we have noted some concerns which will be the focus of our review, including the call-taker’s failure to remain on the line with Ms. Berry until police arrived on scene.
“Please be assured that this matter will be investigated, and if necessary, appropriate corrective action taken.”
Michelle Knight disappeared in 2002 when she was 21, Amanda Berry was 16 when she vanished in 2003 and Gina DeJesus went missing about a year later when she was 14.
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Amanda Berry’s 911 call – Full transcript:
Caller: Help me. I’m Amanda Berry.
Dispatcher: You need police, fire, ambulance?
Caller: I need police.
Dispatcher: OK, and what’s going on there?
Caller: I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years, and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now.
Dispatcher: OK, and what’s your address?
Caller: 2207 Seymour Avenue
Dispatcher: 2207 Seymour. Looks like you’re calling me from 2210.
Caller: Huh?
Dispatcher: Looks like you’re calling me from 2210.
Caller: I can’t hear you.
Dispatcher: Looks like you’re calling me from 2210 Seymour.
Caller: I’m across the street; I’m using the phone.
Dispatcher: OK, stay there with those neighbors. Talk to police when they get there.
Caller: (Crying)
Dispatcher: Ok, talk to police when they get there.
Caller: OK. Hello?
Dispatcher: OK, talk to the police when they get there.
Caller: OK (unintelligible).
Dispatcher: We’re going to send them as soon as we get a car open.
Caller: No, I need them now before he gets back.
Dispatcher: All right; we’re sending them, OK?
Caller: OK, I mean, like …
Dispatcher: Who’s the guy you’re trying — who’s the guy who went out?
Caller: Um, his name is Ariel Castro.
Dispatcher: OK. How old is he?
Caller: He’s like 52.
Dispatcher: And, uh –
Caller: I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years.
Dispatcher: I got, I got that, dear. (Unintelligible) And, you say, what was his name again?
Caller: Uh, Ariel Castro.
Dispatcher: And is he white, black or Hispanic?
Caller: Uh, Hispanic.
Dispatcher: What’s he wearing?
Caller (agitated): I don’t know, ’cause he’s not here right now. That’s why I ran away.
Dispatcher: When he left, what was he wearing?
Caller: Who knows (unintelligible).
Dispatcher: The police are on their way; talk to them when they get there.
Caller: Huh? I – OK.
Dispatcher: I told you they’re on their way; talk to them when they get there, OK.
Caller: All right, OK. Bye.
A 911 dispatcher is under investigation after taking Amanda Berry’s call seconds after she fled the Cleveland dungeon where she and two others had been held captive for a decade.
The desperate call for help led to the discovery of Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who were found alive on Monday inside a house in the west side of the city.
But the 911 dispatcher – one of the first people Amanda Berry spoke to after her decade long captivity – has been criticized for not comforting the distressed caller and not keeping the 26-year-old on the phone until the police arrived.
The dispatcher came under fire as it was revealed last night that police bungled three calls that could have led to the earlier rescue of the sex slave victims.
Amanda Berry’s phone call on Monday evening from a neighbor’s phone lasted less than two minutes.
Amanda Berry, who disappeared in 2003 aged 14, is heard screaming down the phone to an Ohio police operator: “I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years, and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now.”
But multiple times the dispatcher’s response was: “Talk to the police when they get there,” before asking the name of Amanda Berry’s captor, as well as his age and ethnicity.
In the 911 call Amanda Berry implores the dispatcher that she needs the police immediately, but she is told authorities will be sent as soon as a “car becomes open”.
A 911 dispatcher is under investigation after taking Amanda Berry’s call seconds after she fled the Cleveland dungeon where she and two others had been held captive for a decade
At one point when Amanda Berry says: “I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years,” the dispatcher replies: “I got that, dear.”
In the recording the emotional cries from Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight can be heard.
As Amanda Berry becomes more frantic the dispatcher says: “The police are on their way; talk to them when they get there.”
The dispatcher, whose identity has not been revealed, repeats again: “I told you they’re on their way; talk to them when they get there, OK.”
“One of the things that jumped out was that after the dispatch took the information, she moved on to the next call. I think that realizing the gravity of the situation, the dispatch might have stayed on the call with that person,” Gary Allen, a dispatcher for 20 years in Berkeley, California told the Daily Beast.
“You generally want to hold the person on the phone and try to make a personal connection until law enforcement can get there.”
CBS58 played the full 9-1-1 call for Kenosha County Telecommunications and Training Officer Sandy Zuerlein, who admitted she would have kept Amanda Berry on the phone.
“In this call, she was afraid that the man who had her was coming back. If I had kept her on the phone, and he came back, we could have alerted officers,” Sandy Zuerlein said.
In response Cleveland Department of Public Safety Director Martin Flask said police were dispatched and on scene in the west side neighborhood in less than 2 minutes.
“While the call-taker complied with policies and procedures which enabled a very fast response by police, we have noted some concerns which will be the focus of our review, including the call-taker’s failure to remain on the line with Ms. Berry until police arrived on scene.
“Please be assured that this matter will be investigated, and if necessary, appropriate corrective action taken.
“I would like to note that the call-taker did take the call, create an event and send it to the channel dispatcher in less than 90 seconds. Within 1 minutes and 18 seconds from the time that the call-taker answered the call our dispatcher was broadcasting the assignment to available police units.
“As a result of the call-taker’s actions, police were dispatched and on scene in less than 2 minutes”
Meanwhile it emerged that police bungled three calls that could have led to the earlier rescue of the trio held in a house of horrors.
On one occasion, neighbors saw three naked girls on all fours with dog collars around their necks and three men controlling them in the back garden – but police didn’t even bother responding to their call.
The shocking revelations emerged last night as more details emerged about the nightmare ordeal suffered by the three women – Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight – who were finally rescued from their suburban prison in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday.
The sadistic kidnappers raped their victims repeatedly over the last ten years, resulting in several pregnancies and the birth of at least one child, according to US reports.
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18-year-old Sarah McKinley from Oklahoma lost her husband to lung cancer on Christmas Day, leaving her the sole caregiver to their three-month-old son. On New Year’s Eve, the teenage mother proved she was anything but defenceless after she shot and killed an intruder breaking into her home.
Two men tried breaking into Sarah McKinley’s house, one armed with a 12-inch hunting knife. While on the phone with 911, the young mother shot and killed one of the intruders with a 12-gauge shotgun after he passed the threshold.
After her husband’s funeral the previous week, a man named Justin Martin stopped by Sarah McKinley’s house, claiming he was a neighbour and only wanted to introduce himself.
Sarah McKinley was suspicious and she said he was calling late at night, when it was “pitch black outside”.
Justin Martin returned on New Year’s Eve, this time in the middle of the day and armed with a hunting knife and an accomplice – a man identified as 29-year-old Dustin Stewart.
Sarah McKinley told KOCO News that the men started knocking aggressively on her door, Justin Martin in front and Dustin Stewart in the back.
The young mother described to the Oklahoma station what she did: “I walked over and got the 12-gague, went in the bedroom and got the pistol, put the bottle in his mouth, and then I called 911”
She also barricaded the front door with a sofa.
Sarah McKinley asked the 911 dispatcher what to do should the two men break in.
“I’ve got two guns in my hand – is it okay to shoot him if he comes in the door?” she said.
“I’m in here by myself with my infant baby, can I please get a dispatcher out here immediately?”
Once the 911 dispatcher confirmed with the young mother that her doors were indeed locked, Sarah McKinley asked again if she could shoot the intruders.
“I can’t tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby,” the dispatcher told her.
Sarah McKinley was on the phone with two dispatchers – which represented two neighbouring counties – for a total of 21 minutes.
Sarah McKinley, 18, from Oklahoma, who lost her husband to lung cancer on Christmas Day, shot dead an intruder breaking her home on New Year’s Eve
Around 2:00 p.m., Justin Martin kicked in the door and Sarah McKinley shot him once in the torso. Since police said the shooting was in self-defense, she will not be charged.
Police found Justin Martin, 24, slumped over a floral-print sofa with a single gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
His accomplice, Dustin Stewart, told police he fled after he heard the gunshot and later was later driven to the police station by his parents, Newson6.com reports.
Dustin Stewart was being held in Grady County jail on felony murder charges and will be arraigned later today, NewsOK.com reports.
Detective Dan Huff told KOCO-TV that under some circumstances, shooting a person is permissible.
“You’re allowed to shoot an unauthorized person that is in your home,” he said.
“The law provides you the remedy, and sanctions the use of deadly force.”
The Oklahoma Castle Doctrine, otherwise known as the Make My Day law, states you can only shoot an intruder if they have entered your home.
Attorney Doug Frieson told Newson6.com that the law always protects someone in their home, no matter the circumstances.
“The simple fact that you’re unauthorized in the home is enough that allows the homeowner to use deadly force.”
Sarah McKinley said that though the shooting was justified, it was by no means an easy decision to make.
“It was either going to be him or my son. And it wasn’t going to be my son,” she said.
She added: “There’s nothing more dangerous than a woman with a child.”
Detectives will continue their investigation after they obtain a search warrant for Justin Martin’s car.
According to Grady County Sheriff Art Kell, a shooting case like this is rare. “Around the state, maybe two to three people get shot,” he said.
He said there are three deputies to cover the county’s 12,000 square miles, meaning a response could hardly be immediate.
Sheriff Art Kell added: “When (our dispatcher) got the call, we need to get more information, what’s the reason for the guy outside.”
Since Sarah McKinley was calling from a cell phone, her exact location was hard to pinpoint. But, he added, “the deputy was en route within seven minutes.”
He said that Sarah McKinley’s husband was in his 50s and the couple were married two years ago.
Art Kell said one of his dispatchers, Diane Graham, handled the call 911 call.
“I knew she was scared because she was whispering,” Diane Graham, a 911 dispatcher from the Grady County Sheriff’s Office told KFOR-TV.
“Anything can be serious in a moment’s notice, so you need to believe what they say when they call and get the help to them as quick as you can,” Diane Graham explained.
The dispatcher stayed on the phone with the scared mother before transferring her to the Blanchard Police.
Sarah McKinley was gracious to the dispatchers for helping her in the difficult situation.
“The 911 dispatcher was awesome,” Sarah McKinley told KFOR-TV.
“I was feeding off her and she was calm, so I could be calm.”
Detective Dan Huff told KFOR-TV that he and his fellow detectives believe the home invasion to have been “premeditated”.
The attack, as new reports reveal, may have been premeditated. Sarah McKinley’s mother told Newson6.com that Justin Martin stalked her daughter at a rodeo two years ago.
The two have since bumped into each other at a nearby convenience store. Sarah McKinley said she didn’t know who he was until after the shooting, when she pieced everything together.
In addition, two of her dogs were recently found dead.
Since news has spread, members of the Blanchard community are eager to help the young widow, donating clothes and gifts, as well as starting long-term funds for her son.
Sarah McKinley is touched by the kindness. She told KFOR-TV: “You don’t realize how many good people there are until tragedy happens and then they step forward.
“Kinda lose faith in the human race, but when people help, it puts that back in.”
Sarah McKinley’s 911 call to Grady County Sheriff
DISPATCHER: What’s going on?
SARAH MCKINLEY: There’s a guy at my door. I’ve got some dogs that keep coming up missing. This guy’s up to no good. My husband just passed away. I’m here by myself with my infant baby. Can I please get a dispatch out here immediately?
DISPATCHER: Hang with me a second. Are your doors locked?
SARAH MCKINLEY: Yes, I’ve got two guns in my hands. Is it okay to shoot him if he comes in this door?
DISPATCHER: Well, you have to do whatever you can do to protect yourself. I can’t tell you that you can do that, but you do what you have to do to protect your baby. Is he trying to get in the door?
SARAH MCKINLEY: He just keeps knocking.
DISPATCHER: Okay. Alright. Do you have like an alarm on your car that you can set off with your remote control that might scare him and get him away?
SARAH MCKINLEY: No, I don’t.
DISPATCHER: Alright, that’s okay.(rustling)
The dispatcher then transfers Ms McKinley to a neighbouring county. That call was not recorded.
What is Make My Day law?
Castle Doctrine – colloquially called the Make My Day Law from the 1983 Clint Eastwood film Sudden Impact – are legislated by individual states. Not all states have the law, which allow people to defend themselves in their homes. Oklahoma law states that anyone unlawfully entering a person’s home can be defended against by using physical or deadly force. The law was recently expanded in Oklahoma to include businesses.
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