Address Error, Police Didn’t Find Murder Victim

In the second reported location mix-up in days, a San Antonio (Tex.) police calltaker misheard a Spanish-speaking 911 caller, and entered the wrong address into the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. The caller was reporting a possible assault, and a radio dispatcher then sent officers to the wrong location, about a mile away. Coincidentally, officers investigating the original incident then heard a radio call of an assault at nearby address. The officers arrived to hear a woman screaming, and detained a suspect. The handling officers then believed that the second incident was the one originally reported by the 911 caller. No one questioned the original location or listened to the logging tape of the 911 call. About six hours later officers discovered the body of a murder victim in an alley near the original call location. Police chief William McManus admitted the mistake, and explained that both the caller and calltaker spoke Spanish. The caller was reporting the location 835 Menchaca St. and repeated it twice. However, the calltaker confused the number eight in Spanish (pronounced “oh-cho”) with the number 11 (pronounced “own-say”). McManus said the department is analyzing how such a mistake could be prevented in the future.