A sudden twist of events on the New York car crash that killed a 4-year-old girl on Tuesday: authorities are saying the driver did not kill the child, but 911 dispatchers did.
On June 4, at around 8:15 a.m., a 17-year-old initiated a car-hunt with the police after a routine traffic stop on the Upper West Side street in NYC. The New York Times reported that the teenager was driving an SUV without a valid license and was fleeing authorities when he hit a 4-year-old girl, apparently killing her. The child's name was Ariel Russo.
Authorities reported that the driver, Franklin Reyes, lost control of the vehicle at Amsterdam Avenue and 97th Street, hitting and killing the young girl and injuring her grandmother.
However, fire officials are now saying that the death of Ariel was caused by a human error, a 911 human error that is.
The conference held by the Fire department said that emergency medical workers are to blame for this mishap, as they didn't see the 911 call causing a 4-minute delay in dispatching an ambulance to the scene.
"The person responsible for reading that screen did not read that screen," Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano told reporters in a news conference. "Somebody made a mistake, and we are looking into it."
Officials also denied any reports that the error was caused by a glitch in New York's 911 system which has been having errors lately because of a new system roll out.
The NY Times reported that just a few weeks ago, the new $88 million dispatch system was activated causing some issues with the computers. At one time, emergency operators were forced to use pen and paper when their computer screen went dim.
While New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has admitted that the system has been having errors, saying in his radio show that "You wish you didn't have bugs, but that's the real world"; Cassano calls any implications that the 911 system was to blame "very irresponsible."
Fire department official explains that the 911 call was made at 8:15 a.m. and was forwarded to dispatchers two seconds after, but for some reason emergency dispatch was only made at 8:19 a.m.--four minutes after the call.
Onlookers said they saw the girl alive when the ambulance arrived; however, upon arriving at the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Ariel Russo was pronounced dead.
"I don't know if the four minutes would have made any difference," added Cassano.