Aurora Police Took 45 Minutes To Get To High Priority Call
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- Aurora police acknowledge it took them 45 minutes to get an officer to the scene of a serious, high priority call Feb. 10, an accident with two cars totaled and a woman trapped in one of the cars. Eyewitnesses say the suspected at-fault driver walked away after waiting an estimated 15-20 minutes for police to arrive. He has not been located or apprehended by Aurora police.
"I was the first one on scene," said Michele Speissbach of Denver, who was on her way to a restaurant at Montview and Dayton in Aurora when she came upon the wreck. An SUV appeared to have broadsided an Audi sedan and the female driver of that Audi was trapped.
"The firemen and ambulance came really quickly," said Speissbach.
Aurora police confirm that, saying fire department personnel arrived within four minutes.
Jose Basurto, who works at a nearby restaurant, agreed, "The fire department got here pretty fast."
Firefighters had to cut the side and top of the car off to extricate the woman.
"They sawed through the roof and got the lady out," said Basurto.
As soon as she arrived, Speissbach called Aurora 911 asking for police help as she said Montview Boulevard was blocked and the first accident nearly caused another wreck.
When she called 911, she said she told the call-taker, "Police have to come here, this is chaos," and she (911 operator) said, "We have nobody to send."
CBS4 requested the 911 calls and other police documentation but Aurora police have not yet provided the requested information.
Speissbach said the driver suspected of causing the serious accident stayed around for a while, but when it became apparent police were not on the way, "The guy just took off," said Speissbach. "He just took off. You're not allowed to do that, that's not okay," said the Denver woman.
"So I called 911 again," she said, pointing out that nobody was directing traffic, nobody was able to take witness statements and "the crowd starts taking control and it gets out of hand. People are getting more and more upset the police aren't here."
Matthew Wells-Longshore, a spokesman for the Aurora Police Department, declined requests from CBS4 for an interview but said via email the delay was due to a high volume of calls that morning. He said between 10 a.m. and noon that day, there were 67 priority calls for police assistance and 12 of the calls, including the Montview and Dayton wreck, were 'priority 1' calls, the department's highest priority calls. He said the accident was a priority 1 classification due to the injuries and extrication of a driver.
Wells-Longshore said the first 911 call from Montview and Dayton came at 11:30 a.m. and an APD officer arrived on scene at 12:15 p.m.
"Call volume in District 1 that morning is the main contributing factor for us not arriving quicker," wrote Wells-Longshore. "There was a secondary crash with injuries that occurred minutes before the crash you're referring to, an assault with injuries call, a separate domestic violence call, an active burglary call, two suicide calls, and 3 welfare checks. District 1 was fully staffed that day but whenever there is a high number of calls like this that come in, it can quickly drain resources."
"The officers got here at the end," said Basturo.
Wells-Longshore said the suspect has not been identified or apprehended but the investigation continues and detectives hope to have a positive identification soon. He said anyone with information on the crash could call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers.
Mohamed Mouaddine told CBS4 the victim in the accident is his sister-in-law, Soumia Omari.
He said the 45-minute police response is "unacceptable to be honest with you. I have never seen a case where police can arrive in 45 or 50 minutes. If the police arrived within 5 to 10 minutes, the guy was still there."
Mouaddine said with the suspect walking away, "There's not even a person to hold accountable for what happened."
He said his sister-in-law, who was working two jobs, will likely be bedridden for as long as three months recovering from her injuries.
For Speissbach, what she witnessed firsthand is emblematic of a larger problem.
"This is a huge problem in Denver and Aurora and nobody seems to be doing anything," she said. "I just don't understand. Tell me what can citizens do to make this a safer city?"
