http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/04/17/13622106.html
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Stranded woman dies despite 911 call
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Last Updated: April 17, 2010 2:34am
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BIG RIVER, Sask. – A woman who died trying to get help for three family members is being called a hero, but the situation has RCMP investigating why their calls to 911 went unheeded.
RCMP said two women and two children had been driving to Loon Lake from Prince Albert when their car got bogged down in mud and water on a poorly maintained road in a remote area near Big River. Records indicate someone in the car called 911 on April 8 but no officers were dispatched.
One of the women tried to get help, walking some 60 kilometres from the vehicle.
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There have been several high-profile problems with 911 service in other Canadian cities.
In Calgary, one woman narrowly escaped being killed when she came home last November and found her two children slain. Ying Louie called 911 earlier saying she feared for the safety of her children because her husband wouldn’t let her speak to them. Louie called again about 30 minutes later and talked to a different operator. There was a scream and the line cut off.
In February, a Calgary woman was heard in distress in the background of a 911 call made more than 12 hours before she was found dead by police.
An inquest was held in Winnipeg after two aboriginal sisters — Corrine McKeown, 52, and Doreen Leclair, 51 — were murdered in 2000. They had called police and 911 five times over eight hours to get help. Police responded to the first call and to the last call, when they found the women had been stabbed to death inside Leclair’s home in Winnipeg’s north end.
Morin said the woman was released from hospital Friday. He met with her and the boys, along with the RCMP.
“She was still pretty weak, but the kids were … pretty healthy,” said Morin.
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Argh! “Dial 911 and die”
Mistakes happen. Fatal mistakes. Avoidable mistakes.
(1) Logging road shortcut.
Are you kidding me? That’s what got that California guy and his family. At least, his excuse was he was following his Garmin. Wasn’t the lack of pavement a clue that they were headed in the “wrong” direction?
(2) Calling 911!
Always a mistake. If lost, call a friend or relative who will care if you are succored or not. A follow up with the donut eating bureaucrats. (Nice of them to conduct an investigation abot the multiple gooferment failures in this story.
(3) Car not equipped for survival.
No 72 hour bag in the trunk. No tools. No survival gear. And these were Native Americans?
(4) 60 click hike
That’s about 40 miles. (That’s a good hike for a Marine.) But doable. Didn’t say how old the lady was, but with properly gear, it has to be do-able. “Four days later” indicates she made ten miles per day. Would seem to be a comfortable pace.
(5) Dead on the side of the road
Natural causes or run over?
(6) 911 Operators
No one knew nothing. No follow up. No use.
(7) 911 History
Only the gooferment can provide an expensive service that fails so badly. No one gets fired. No one is reprimanded. “She’s lucky!”
Where’s the outrage?
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Posted by reinkefj 
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