Imagine calling 911 to report an active shooter and having no one pick up.
That’s what a D.C. woman says happened when she called for help after a man started shooting inside the Potomac Avenue Metro station in February. The attack killed a Metro worker and hurt three other people.
At a hearing Thursday on D.C.’s 911 call center, multiple residents described having emergency calls placed on hold or not picked up at all.
‘My call went unanswered’
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Sylvia Soltis was standing on the Potomac Avenue Metro station platform during rush hour the morning of Feb. 1 when a shooter opened fire.
“I ran and hid with another woman behind the elevator on the platform. I called 911, but my call went unanswered,” she testified on Thursday, her voice breaking with emotion.
“I vividly remember the point at which I needed to hang up. I was rubbing the arm of the woman next to me so she would stay calm and not cry, which I worried might alert the shooter to where we were hiding. The woman became startled, my shoulders jumped and I realized I had lost track of the gunshots,” Soltis said. “While desperately listening for someone to answer my 911 call, I hung up.”
Soltis was not alone in sharing a traumatic experience made worse by calling 911 for help in D.C.
Resident Toni Barnes said her 911 calls were put on hold as her daughter went into cardiac arrest because of asthma attacks.
“I was placed on hold on several occasions for about two to three minutes at a time,” she said.
“MPD was never dispatched, and I hung the phone up on the operator. I'm still slightly traumatized by this incident,” another resident testified.
Here’s what the acting director of DC’s 911 call center said
Heather McGaffin, director of the Office of Unified Communications (OUC), did not address residents’ complaints directly. Instead, she offered a list of excuses for her agency’s problems, including:
- Short staffing
- High call volume
- Cell carrier errors
She stopped short of acknowledging mistakes.
McGaffin testified that her agency has hired more call takers in the past eight months than in the previous two years combined. She said that since she took over in February:
- 10 employees have been fired
- 7 employees have been suspended
- 12 employees have either retired or resigned
‘Unnecessary trauma’
For Soltis, memories of calling 911 and being unable to get help still haunt her.
“These events were terrifying. Unfortunately, the trauma I experienced on those two occasions was compounded when no one would answer my 911 calls. OUC's failures inflict unnecessary trauma on people in need. It is wrong. I'm here today because no one should go through what I did. These events have taken a toll on me and my family. It took months before I could sleep through the night,” she testified.
Soltis added: “It is an awful feeling to accept that you are on your own and no one is coming.”
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