The husband of a Colorado woman who died in a pit-bull attack was on the phone with 911 operators for more than 30 minutes while a dispatcher tried to assess the seriousness of his call, the Rocky Mountain News reports.
Elbert County, Co., Undersheriff Jim Underwood said the dispatcher might not have accurately interpreted the situation, which could have delayed the response time.
Bjorn Osmunsen, 24, called 911 before 10 a.m. and said he was being attacked by pit bulls. One of the dogs had blood on it, he said, and he was worried because his wife, 40-year-old Jennifer Brooke, had not returned after leaving about 7 a.m. to feed her horses. By the time the dispatcher decided to air a call for assistance at 10:05 a.m., the only on-duty deputy had been sent to a domestic-violence call.
After another 30 minutes, an off-duty officer went to the scene. By that time, the dogs had attacked a 42-year-old man, who was able to escape when his 16-year-old son fired at the dogs with a shotgun.
Brooke was later found dead, but it is not clear whether a quicker response time would have saved her.
Link: http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2476686,00.html