(I am also a contractor. And because my contract is based on my performance, I work very hard. Sorry, I know this is OT, but her being a contractor has nothing to do with this situation. In her field, many contractors are used.)
I really felt for everyone in those 911 calls. I can't remember which operator/call but you could tell the eye opening moment when they asked if she was saying it was intentional. It was like the light bulb came on.
I don't think anything would have changed the outcome.
OMG, she could hear one of the children screaming. All I can think of is that was when the hatchet went into play. OMG!
As far as any 911 operator wasting time, or any one else, I don't see it that way. Everyone was doing what they had to do. It would have made no difference if the police, firetruck, and ambulance were sitting right outside the door. JP was already in motion, no stopping him. That is why all the gasoline. Even if they tried to knock the door down, it was too late.
I hope the social worker can qualify for free therapy for the rest of her life, she's going to need it, and it may never help. I feel so sorry for her, just so awful.
Even if the police had arrived on scene immediately it would have not made any difference.
They would not storm the home knowing he held two hostages inside (his sons). They would have tried to set up communication with him urging him to come out.
No one is to blame for this diabolical plan except the murdering ba*tard who carried it out.
i had to call 911 once for a emergency and i couldnt remember my address for the life of me i started to cry. moo I was in shock. moo
My heart goes out to the social worker, and I'm actually thankful that he locked her out: she would be gone, too, IMO. And there's nothing she could have done to save those boys if she had been 'let in'.
One thing that crossed my mind: the supervised visit should have been on neutral turf. Not in his home where weapons, etc., could be hidden - and something like this could happen.
I hope this is something that courts will take into account in the future.
I'm still reeling from this one. :cry:
I understand and completely agree that WS does not allow any bashing or second guessing of the social worker.....may I ask why it is ok to do the complete opposite to the 911 operator?? Has it occured to anyone that he also feels horrible about what happened? Josh Powell is the bad person, here. To me, all of his victims should be given the same respect.
Just jumpin off your postThis 911 operator guy...while I know that at times they have to keep a person on a call and keep them talking to calm them down, he's just a piece of work. When I had to call 911 for my husband's chest pains last May they were absolute angels and kept asking if I needed anything else, that they were sending the ambulance right away. I couldn't have asked for better service.
Any time children are involved it's life threatening. I sure hope this guy is severely admonished by his superiors.
I'll just chime in and say that I thought that all the 911 operators were kind of rude. Especially the guy. I know they are trained to get info, but they just all seemed snippy that day. Maybe they wanted to be elsewhere that day. ??
To be completely frank and honest, there was nothing anyone could do from the moment JP decided he was going to do this, to the time he did this.
Everyone did their best, and while we can look back and see things we may have done differently, hindsight is always 20/20. Yes, we should look at, and examine, the series of events, but we should also always remember that we were NOT there, we did NOT have the pressure and the insanity in our faces, and we did NOT watch two children get brutally murdered by hatcheting and then explosions carried out by their father.
Josh Powell would have done this, period. It is luck, pure and simple, that we are not talking about a third murder (the S/W), or third and fourth murders (the Coxes).
I don't care how fast LE responded or didn't respond. They would never have been able to stop JP from igniting the blasts. Even if they were right outside, he would have done it.
If the 911 operator was a pure idiot, JP still would have done it.
If the 911 operator was able to send out squads right then, JP still would have done it.
If the kids had entered after the S/W, JP would have done it.
If visitation was not allowed, JP still would have done it, but at the Coxes' house.
It was gonna happen. From the moment when JP made up his mind this was how it was going to end, it was going to happen.
The responsibility of this lays only on JP. Not the social worker, and even if the 911 operator is a complete idiot, it's still not his fault. There were no actions anyone could take, even with dispatching immediately everything LE had including SWAT and HRT, that was going to stop JP.
JP was going to do what he did.
Best-
Herding Cats
Right. The kids being hacked to death with an axe and then blown up by their father will just have to wait while the policemen and firemen respond to important calls.
I swear the 911 operator didn't listen to a SINGLE WORD that the social worker said. He just kept making her repeat herself over and over, while two children were dying a horrible, brutal death just feet away from her. He acted like the call was just so silly, asking how she could supervise herself while she was the one visiting, as if he had just caught her in a ridiculous lie. She said Josh slammed the door in her face and wouldn't answer the door. She said she smelled gasoline. She said she was afraid for the children's lives. What else did she need to say to make him take her seriously?
I just don't even have enough tears for this.