Quintonio LeGrier, the young man shot to death by a Chicago police officer one day after Christmas last month, called 911 three times the morning of his death looking for help. Ironically, LeGrier’s father also made a call to 911. It was his father’s call that officers eventually responded to shooting him six times. LeGrier’s neighbor Bettie Jones, who answered the door to the apartment unit, was shot once in the chest.
Newly released recordings from the Chicago Police Department describe LeGrier as “pleading” for help. The dispatchers who took LeGrier’s call hung up on him the first two times.
Paul Linnee, a national expert on emergency communications, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the dispatchers’ decisions not to send officers in response to the first two 911 calls were “inappropriate.”
“The standard norm is, number one, don’t lose your cool,” added David Bradford, director of the Center for Public Safety at Northwestern University.
Basileios “Bill” Foutris, a lawyer for LeGrier’s father, said Monday: “I found the dispatchers’ conduct was disgusting.”
A spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Management said late Monday the dispatcher who took LeGrier’s first call is being disciplined for not sending police because LeGrier had indicated his life was in danger.
During all the calls the dispatchers request LeGrier’s name; he provides only the initial “Q.” On the third and final call, the dispatcher spends more time on the phone with him, but continues to ask him questions, which continues to frustrate him. Quintonio asks during each call if 911 is sending the police. On the third call to 911, a dispatcher dispatched a car on a well-being check. That car was responding as LeGrier’s father Antonio made his 911 call saying that his son was beating on the door with a bat. Antonio’s call to 911, by contrast to Quintonio, sounds out of breath and panicked. You can hear those calls to 911 here.