What do you do when you dial 911 for help, but the police don’t move fast enough? A Colorado woman faced the same question when she called the police after receiving a message from her husband, who had allegedly been taken hostage. However, according to The Associated Press, the response to her 911 call was delayed until after her husband was already shot and killed.
Talija Campbell received messages from her husband, Qualin, saying, “911.. Send Please!” along with a picture of a white man who had allegedly taken him hostage Friday afternoon. He also sent his location to Mrs. Campbell, which was just under a mile from the Colorado Springs Police Department. Mrs. Campbell said she called 911 to report a hostage situation and described the vehicle her husband was in, the messages, and the location he sent. She spoke to two dispatchers, the last one saying they’d send an officer. Though, Campbell said she didn’t feel like they were taking the situation seriously.
So, she drove to the location herself, and what she saw was exactly what she wanted to prevent…
Read more from AP News:
When she arrived Campbell said she immediately recognized her husband’s company car in a parking lot. She said when she saw her husband slumped over inside the car alongside another man, she fell to her knees and started screaming. As other people gathered around, they debated whether they should open the car door after seeing a gun on the lap of the other man, who appeared to be unconscious but did not have any visible injuries, she said.
Campbell said she decided to open the door to try to save her husband, who had been bleeding, but found no pulse on his neck or wrist.
“I shouldn’t have been the one there, the first person to respond,” she said.
Only when a family member called the police to report the death of Mr. Campbell did the police arrive, and by that time, it was an hour after the initial call went out warning about the situation. Mrs. Campbell demands answers from the CPSD, whom she believes could have saved her husband’s life if they moved faster.
“The Colorado Springs Police Department and El Paso County can make all the excuses they want, but the facts are simple,” said Campbell’s lawyer, Harry Daniels. “This was a hostage situation where Qualin Campbell was begging for his life, his wife called 911, the police were less than a mile away, but they never responded.”
El Paso County’s coroner’s office won’t release the name of the other man in the car but the autopsies were done Monday, per KKTV. The Root reached out to The Law Offices of Harry Daniels LLC for more information. CPSD’s Violent Crimes Lieutenant didn’t respond immediately to calls for more information. The department hasn’t given any other information on the case to local reporters.