In one of the saddest and most chilling 911 logging tapes ever released, Kimberlyn Rae Kendrick repeatedly asks a Mayes County (Okla.) dispatcher for advice as her car continued to sink into flood waters. During the 9-minute call, the dispatcher told her fire units were coming, but never gave her any advice or suggestions on leaving the car. At many points in the call, the sounds of water can be heard lapping against the phone, with Kendrick saying, “I’m running out of air.” The call eventually ended, perhaps as the phone shorted out from the water. The incident has sparked local debate on how dispatchers should handle such incidents, and highlights that lack of any water rescue procedures at Mayes County’s comm center. The incident also recalls previous national debate when a young woman drove off the Florida turnpike in 2001 and was on the phone with a dispatcher for 3-1/2 minutes before she died.
The Mayes County incident has generated criticism of the press for requesting and posting the logging tape of Kenddrick’s 911 call. It has also resulted in disagreement among the local media on whether it’s appropriate to post the tape. Several newspaper said they would not post Kendrick’s final moments of life, while some TV stations said the tape was important to hear as part of an evaluation of the county’s handling of 911 calls.
Kendrick, 49, was a nursing school student, and was enroute to her parent’s home on Elliott St. in the city of Pryor. Local streams and creeks were swollen from heavy rains. About 8 p.m. officials say she drove past a highway barricade put out to block the flooded roadway. She entered a part of the roadway that dips towards a creek, and the flowing water spun her car around and pulled it into a water-filled ditch.
The family fought the release in court, but a judge ruled that the state’s open records law did not permit the tape to be withheld.
At the beginning of the call, Kendrick said she had just recently moved to the area, and wasn’t entirely familiar with landmarks and roadways. At least twice during the call a dispatcher transferred her to another comm center, advising her, “Don’t hang up.”
Officials say firefighters arrived with a boat at the place where Kendrick’s car entered the water about 8 p.m., but they could not locate the submerged car. At one point during the 911 call, Kendrick apparently moved from the front of the car to the rear, trying to stay within the bubble of air at the top of the car’s interior.
Throughout the call, Kendrick remains remarkably calm, although many of her comments and remarks reflect the stress that she is feeling. At one point she asked, “Should I get out of it and let it flood and stand on it?” However, the dispatcher did not respond, and at other times, the dispatcher told her to stay where she was.
Firefighters located the car four hours after Kendrick called, but she could not be revived. He car was about 300 feet east of the highway. County officials said Phase II 911 service was available, and located Kendrick’s phone, but that deep water and vegetation prevented rescue workers on-scene from immediately finding the car.
While listening to the logging tape, consider your agency’s procedures for handling such calls–if any, your own personal knowledge and experience and what advice you might give, the dispatcher’s multi-tasking that frequently seemed to distract from Kendrick’s conversation, the necessity to continually provide assurance to a caller in such circumstances, and whether call transfers are advisable.
The logging tape is here.
Read a news story about the incident here, and another on the lack of a protocol here.
Read about the 2001 incident that claimed the life of Karla Gutierrez here, including rescue advice.
The Tulsa World has posted the NAEMD protocol card for “Sinking Vehicle” here (pdf).
View Kendrick Drowning Incident in a larger map
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