When a barista at a Starbucks in the Takoma neighborhood of Northwest D.C. had a seizure and fell to the floor on Sunday, several customers called 911. The dispatchers said help was on the way -- but they also said that callers had reached the wrong jurisdiction.
911 dispatchers questioned whether the people placing the 911 calls were calling for help in the Takoma neighborhood of D.C. or Takoma Park, Maryland, just across the D.C.-Maryland line.
An ambulance arrived within seven minutes of when the D.C. Office of Unified Communications received a 911 call. But witness Tamara Robinson said she's still distressed about what happened.
"You're trying to remain calm for the people around you, and that's hard to do when someone is meeting you with a lot of questions," she said.
Robinson called 911 when the Starbucks worker had a seizure. She said she got into a "back-and-forth" with the dispatcher about where the emergency was. People in the Starbucks began to panic because several people were having the same conversation with dispatchers, Robinson said.
This happens often, emergency officials in D.C. and Montgomery County said.
Karima Jones, the director of the D.C. Office of Unified Communications, blamed the problem on the phone service carriers and towers that direct emergency calls to 911 centers.
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"Unfortunately, it is out of our hands," she said. "We do have a voice in it, which is great, but it is on our carriers, which we're partners with. We have a relationship and they're all very open to getting this rectified."
The FCC is pushing for a correction to the problem, but it's been a slow process.
D.C. is working on a campaign called Help 911 Help You. It's aimed at asking people who call 911 to know where they are.
"Just knowing where you are, knowing a better location, knowing which city or state you're in helps," Jones said.
Also, emergency responders in the area are working on 911 systems that will be able to detect from where someone is calling.
In the meantime, Robinson said she just wants people to be able to get help when they need it.
"I am worried, and I'm especially worried about children who learn to dial 911. God forbid they're in an emergency and they dial 911 and there's confusion about who can help them," she said.
