In this pool photo provided by the Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., an investigator walks through the garage area, Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in the rubble of the home in Graham, Wash., where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed Sunday in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire. Powell's wife Susan went mysteriously missing from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009. (AP Photo/Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., Ed Troyer, Pool)
In this pool photo provided by the Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., an investigator walks through the garage area, Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in the rubble of the home in Graham, Wash., where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed Sunday in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire. Powell's wife Susan went mysteriously missing from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009. (AP Photo/Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., Ed Troyer, Pool)
Don Easton, a special investigator with Unified Investigations & Sciences, Inc., carries a melted gas can away in an evidence bag as he works, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in the charred rubble of the home where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed Sunday, in Graham, Wash., Powell, the husband of missing Utah woman Susan Powell, died along with his children Sunday in Washington. An autopsy showed the children also suffered hatchet wounds to their necks. He was a person of interest in his wife's 2009 disappearance. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Don Easton, a special investigator with Unified Investigations & Sciences, Inc., photographs evidence, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in the charred rubble of the home where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed Sunday, in Graham, Wash., in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
A member of the West Valley City, Utah, Police Dept. looks through charred rubble, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, at the home where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed Sunday, in Graham, Wash., in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
In this pool photo provided by the Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., a melted gas can is marked with an evidence flag, Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in the rubble of the home in Graham, Wash., where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed Sunday in what police said appeared to be a deliberately set fire. Powell's wife Susan went mysteriously missing from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009. (AP Photo/Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., Ed Troyer, Pool)
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) ? Emergency call logs show that nearly eight minutes elapsed between when a social worker called 911 to report that Josh Powell's children were in danger and when sheriff's deputies were dispatched, and it took another 14 minutes for a deputy to get to the home.
The Associated Press obtained the logs Wednesday night under a public records request.
Recently released audio tapes of the 911 calls raised questions about the dispatch center's handling of the social worker's calls, which detailed that Powell, the husband of a missing Utah woman, had locker her out of the house during what was supposed to be a supervised visit with his two young sons.
Minutes later, Powell torched the home, killing all three.
The recordings showed that the man who took her call engaged in nearly seven minutes of questioning that ended with him saying he didn't know how long it would be before a deputy could respond.
The audio didn't make clear when the deputy was dispatched. The logs show that apparently happened about a minute after the call ended.
It wasn't known if a quicker response could have saved the boys, who had also been attacked with a hatchet.
It took almost two minutes from the start of the call for the dispatcher to learn Powell's address and more than three minutes to understand that she was there to supervise a child custody visit. Near the end of the call, she asked how long before officers could get there.
"I don't know, ma'am," he said. "We have to respond to emergency life-threatening situations first."
She responded: "This could be life-threatening ... I'm afraid for their lives!"
Authorities said the call could have been handled better, and that it was unfortunate for the dispatcher to leave the social worker with the impression no help was immediately on the way. The agency that runs the call center said it would review the matter and start a disciplinary investigation if necessary.
Still, the recordings raised questions about an emergency response to a custody visit that ended with Powell killing himself and his boys.
Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said he did not believe the conversation caused unnecessary delays.
"Are we unhappy with the etiquette and the manner? Yes," Troyer said. "Did it affect the response time? No. Dispatchers are typing information and addresses while they're on the phone with callers."
The social worker had driven the Powell boys, 5 and 7, from their grandparents' home to their father's house on Sunday. Josh Powell had lost custody of the boys last fall, after his father, with whom they lived, was arrested in a child pornography and voyeurism investigation.
When she arrived, the boys ran into the house, and Powell slammed the door in her face, locking it.
She called her supervisor and 911 using her cellphone, reaching the call center in Tacoma about 10 miles away from Powell's house just outside Puyallup, authorities said.
In the first minutes of her first 911 call, the woman quickly laid out the situation:
"Something really weird has happened. The kids went into the house and the parent ? the biological parent ? whose name is Josh Powell will not let me in the door. What should I do?
"... I could hear one of the kids crying, and he still wouldn't let me in."
Nearly 20 seconds into the call, the dispatcher asked her for the address. The social worker didn't know and needed to look for it. It took her about 90 seconds to find it in her car.
At one point, she asked, "You can't find me by GPS?"
He responded: "No." And then there was a pause of approximately 10 seconds.
Pierce County, the second largest in the state and home to about 800,000 people, has an enhanced 911 system that is designed to give police an approximate location of the cell phone caller. It wasn't immediately clear if the call center used that feature to locate the social worker.
While she was still looking for the address, she said, "But I think I need help right away."
The dispatcher proceeded to question her repeatedly about who she was and her role.
"Who is there to exercise the visitation?" he asked.
"I am," she said. "The visit is with Josh Powell. And he's the husband of ..."
"And who's supervising?" he asked.
"I supervise."
"So you supervise and you're doing the visit? You supervise yourself?" he asked.
"I supervise myself. I'm the supervisor here."
"Wait a minute. If it's a supervised visit, you can't supervise yourself if you're the visitor."
After getting it straight, the dispatcher told her: "We'll have somebody look for you there."
"OK, how long will it be?" the woman asked.
That's when the dispatcher responded by saying he didn't know.
Moments later, the house erupted in flames.
The woman screamed in a separate call: "He exploded the house!"
Authorities also released a 911 call Josh Powell's sister made Sunday, saying she received emails from her brother explaining what to do with his property and saying he couldn't live without his sons.
Alina Powell told a dispatcher she feared her brother was going to do something because of pressure he faced after his wife, Susan, disappeared two years ago in Utah. Authorities considered him a "person of interest" in the case. It's unclear what time Alina Powell's 911 call was Sunday, but it appears the dispatcher had some knowledge of who Josh Powell was.
Crying, Alina Powell told the dispatcher: "I'm terrified to drive over there. I'm not afraid of him. He's never hurt me. I'm afraid of seeing something I don't want to see."
Associated Pressrutgers mark hurd new ipad 3 baylor jodie fisher zooey deschanel michael jordan
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.