Jerome Fowlkes and his wife.
Detroit Police are looking into allegations that a 911 operator was rude and hung up on a family who was asking for an assistance Wednesday night after the mother in the house collapsed.
Taryn Asher of Fox 2 reports that Jerome Fowlkes had his son call 911. His wife Jerome Fowlkes says his 41-year-old wife suffers from blood clots in her lungs, suddenly stopped breathing
Fowlkes says he took the phone from his son during the call.
"I grabbed the phone from him. (I was) trying to ask them how to do CPR and the operator said 'this is a prank. I'm terminating the call,'" Fowlke said.
He said the dispatcher hung up. Jerome was stunned. His daughter called back and someone else said they would assist her. But Jerome said he didn't want to take a chance and drove his wife to the hospital, where she's doing OK.
Asher said she listened to the tape of the call and the operator never said anything about a prank. But Asher said the operator was rude.
Detroit Police Assistant Chief James White said the department is looking into the matter, and also said the operator never said anything about a prank call, Fox 2 reports.
"She could have been a little bit more sensitive, towards the end," White said. "I think her last words were 'no response, call terminated' which is part of their protocol. However, under those circumstances, with everything being as heightened as it was, I do have a little bit of concern with that. We're going to be opening an investigation and looking at that issue."
