Virginia 911 Tape Fiasco

June 29, 2005
It started out as a routine 911 call. At 8:03 a.m. on June 13th the call came into Alexandria fire dispatchers from this air conditioning firm on Farrington Avenue.

Video: Dave Statter's 11pm Report

"I don't care who comes".

That's what a 911 caller said as he listened to two dispatchers trying to figure out who should help a dying man.

9 News' Dave Statter has more on that call, which went back and forth between Fairfax County and Alexandria.

Dave Statter's report

It started out as a routine 911 call. At 8:03 a.m. on June 13th the call came into Alexandria fire dispatchers from this air conditioning firm on Farrington Avenue. But the business is actually in Fairfax County just over the border.

Again routine, Alexandria handed the 911 call off to Fairfax.

Fairfax Police admitted first to 9 news two weeks ago that the ball was dropped on its' end despite two separate calls from the business that Alexandria transferred to its 911 center.

It wasn't until 9 minutes after the first call that Alexandria realized that no one had been sent and the 911 caller was listening in on that conversation.

Rather than wait any longer, Alexandria dispatched its closest medic unit and fire engine but at that point another call came in from Waldron Inc., saying the man was in cardiac arrest.

The Alexandria medics continued CPR but were unable to bring the man back to life. At last Fairfax County police were still conducting an internal investigation into what went wrong at its 911 center.

Click on video to see Dave Statter's report.

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