A 13-year-old Seattle boy, watching his 45-year-old father unsuccessfully fighting off dying from cardiac arrest, called 911, but when firefighters arrived at the site they would not enter without police because an outdated note erroneously reported that the apartment occupant was aggressive. Critics have slammed Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate which may have caused understaffing among the city’s police.
“When Seattle Fire arrived, they were told to wait for police before entering,” Jason Rantz of KTTH reported. “The address was flagged as unsafe for Seattle Fire to enter. At the time, the precinct was down two officers, leaning on non-patrol volunteers to meet minimum staffing levels. It took Seattle police 15 minutes to arrive, delaying medics from performing life-saving measures. Despite their best efforts, the father died. And it turns out the address was flagged due to a previous tenant and did not apply to its current residents.”
The teen called 911 at 1:24 p.m. Asked by the operator if his father was conscious, the teen replied, “I don’t know. I think he … yeah, he’s conscious but he’s not OK. Hurry,” adding that his dad was “making a moaning noise.”
At 1:26 p.m., Seattle Fire was alerted. The dispatcher informed alerted Aid-18 that the resident had a history of threats and told them they should “be accompanied by SPD to secure the scene.” “This is known as a ‘cautionary premise note,’ which is meant to provide information to Seattle Fire in order to keep them safe when entering a residence,” Rantz explained.
A18 arrived and was waiting for police at approximately 1:32 p.m. The teen called 911 again at 1:37 p.m. hardly breathing, saying, “He wasn’t like this before, I’m just really worried.” The new dispatcher responded, “Look at his chest. Tell me if it’s rising and falling.”
“Barely. Almost not at all. Almost,” the teen said. “He’s still moving.”
The incident report stated that a police unit wasn’t assigned to the incident until almost 1:37 p.m. The firefighters finally entered the apartment at approximately 1:39 p.m. Police finally arrived at 1:45.
A medic told Rantz “had it been addressed early, his chance of survival would have been 60%.”
“One medic noted to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH that officers often arrive on scene at the same time as they do — sometimes earlier. But since the mass exodus of officers accelerated in 2020, after months of abuse from local activists in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing, the situation has deteriorated,” Rantz noted, adding, “Durkan’s vaccine mandate took nearly 100 officers off the streets in mid-October. … After the vaccine mandate, the department acknowledged internally that it did not have enough staff to respond to 911 calls.”
Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan said in October, “If we lose what appears to be over 300 people because of this mandate, this public safety crisis we’re experiencing will look like child’s play.”
The vaccine mandate in Seattle is leading to a shortage of first responders. And our new staffing crisis likely contributed to a man's death — in front of his 13-year-old son. It's a tragic story. I break it down on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Full story: https://t.co/8VuP9zd99X pic.twitter.com/h43WA9sCEL
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) November 13, 2021