Quick, Call 911! (Woman sueing for 911 none response!

[Desertdog]

When in trouble call 911? Shoot first, call later.

Woman Held Hostage With Infant Plans Lawsuit Against Police
http://www.wnbc.com/news/4382425/detail.html
POSTED: 8:13 am EDT April 15, 2005
UPDATED: 11:11 am EDT April 15, 2005

IRVINGTON, N.J. -- A woman whose ex-boyfriend is accused of holding her and their 4-month-old daughter hostage plans to sue Irvington police, claiming they ignored her 911 calls when the same man demanded to be let inside her apartment a week earlier.

A gun-wielding Almutah Saunders took Erica Turner and her daughter, Jada, on a high-speed car chase from Irvington to Lopatcong on Monday, authorities said. Following eight hours of holding police at bay, Saunders released Turner and the child unharmed and then surrendered.

Turner filed a notice Thursday advising police of her intent to sue. Such notice is required in New Jersey before suing a government entity.

In the notice, Turner said Saunders banged on her apartment door April 4, demanding to be let in, which was a violation of a restraining order issued that morning in Superior Court in Newark.

She maintains that even after repeated 911 calls from herself, her mother and a cousin, Irvington police did not send a police car to the home for nearly three hours. By the time they got there, he was gone.

"You call 911 and expect them to help you and get no response," Turner said at a news conference Thursday. "That's supposed to be your savior and you get no response."

Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith called for an internal review Monday after he first heard about the complaints.

"What I heard on the tape was troubling to me and we're proceeding with disciplinary action," Smith told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's newspapers.

The mayor also said he was disturbed Turner and her family did not immediately report a March 14 incident in which Saunders allegedly kidnapped Turner at knifepoint and threatened to drive her off the George Washington Bridge. She did not alert police to that incident until April 4, the same day she says Saunders was banging on her door.

Saunders, 26, is being held in the Essex County Jail in Newark, charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and other crimes.

 

[Byron Quick]

Hmm, wonder if her lawyer is aware that the Supreme Court has already ruled on this issue and ruled for the defendant not the plaintiff?

John Shirley and I called Atlanta PD 911 a few years ago to report a possible abduction of a woman in progress. We checked it out closer and it was just drunks being stupid. John stayed on the phone giving detail info as the what we could see at the time and our street address. Thirty minutes later, no squad car. We went into the Denny's and ate. No squad car came by while we were eating. We finished. No squad car. We left. A mile or so away, we ran into a couple of people pulled over and being given traffic tickets. You've got to keep your priorities in order.(Which is meant as a dig at the 911 operators and not the cops. I'll bet that if either of those officers had been questioned, that neither would have heard of a possible abduction on their watch.)

 

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

There is an old joke that goes ...."Houston 911, please hold...."

d'ya figure there's some middle ground between non-response and offering to shoot a disobedient, out of control child?

Regards,
Rabbit.

 

[Fly320s]

"You call 911 and expect them to help you and get no response," Turner said at a news conference Thursday. "That's supposed to be your savior and you get no response."

Welcome to reality, ma'am.

 

[Standing Wolf]

"You call 911 and expect them to help you and get no response," Turner said at a news conference Thursday. "That's supposed to be your savior and you get no response."

Her expectation is reasonable, although it's by no means realistic. I'd say she'd be better off with a shotgun.

 

[model 649]

Many rulings over many years. Unless the police have an agreement to provide you protection, they are under NO obligation to defend your life. It is, indeed, that simple. "Dial 911 and die" by the JPFO said it all years ago. Ignorance is STILL no excuse, WE are responsible for our safety. This just doesn't sink in for people like that.
Josh

 

[Justin]

Should have ordered a pizza...