Family Angry That Police Arrived, EMS Staged

When a 60 year-old Ocala (Fla.) woman fell unconscious at a family gathering, a relative dialed 911 and excitedly asked for help, eventually becoming angry and using several profanities during the call. The Marion County 911 dispatcher who fielded the call heard the profanities and immediately dispatched Ocala police officers to the scene, but ordered county EMS units to stage at a distance for safety reasons. By the time two police officers arrived, a family member had taken the woman to a hospital, where she recovered. But now the family is angry that the dispatcher mistakenly assumed that the scene was unsafe and that EMS units never arrived. County communications manager Bill McConnell defended the calltaker, saying she could only judge the scene from information obtained during the call. He did say that the calltaker might have been able to calm down the caller if the background noise had been less. Read more about the incident here.