Woman died when 911 call failed to find her help

3 minutes, 24 seconds of total terror
Plantation 911 failed to help woman in race for her life
By Sofia Santana and Brian Haas
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
12:09 AM EDT, July 2, 2008

PLANTATION - Despite a two-minute conversation in which a 911 caller told an operator she was racing to the police station with a gunman in pursuit, police weren't dispatched to help her until she lay dying in the station parking lot, according to records obtained Tuesday by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Olidia Kerr Day, 45, repeatedly screamed for help. But no one sent officers to try to rescue the mother of three, no one helped guide her to the police station, and no one waited for her in the parking lot, dispatch records show.

Plantation Police Chief Larry Massey said the 911 center, like other computerized dispatch centers, aims to alert officers within a minute of receiving an emergency call. Information is sent to all patrol officers and 911 center employees as soon as it's entered into the computer.

It took twice as long for the Plantation 911 center to enter the details of Day's call on April 25 into its computer system. Day already had spent another minute on the phone with Sunrise 911 operators before she was transferred to Plantation. Her total time on the phone with dispatchers was 3 minutes, 24 seconds.
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