The remote location of a single-vehicle, fatal accident near the New Mexico—Colorado state line contributed to a 41-minute response time, officials say. For some reason, the vehicle of Colorado resident Patricia Jacquez crashed into a ditch about in that state, two miles north of the state boundary. Another motorist came across the crash scene and tried dialing 911, but there was no coverage there. The motorist dialed a friend in the town of Redmesa, who then dialed 911 to reach the public safety comm center in La Plata County (Colo.). A dispatcher there put the caller on hold three times to answer other 911 calls, and eventually gave a location that was in New Mexico. Read more about the tangled response here.
Read a second newspaper story about possible solutions to the problem of incidents occurring in remote locations near the state line.
This map shows the two-state area where the vehicle accident occurred, and explains why it took over 41 minutes for emergency units to arrive.
View New Mexico Response Delay in a larger map
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