911 dispatcher told Arkansas woman to 'shut up' as she drowned in flood: 'This will teach you not to drive in the water'
FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS: Instead of helping a woman who had accidentally driven herself into floodwaters in getting out of the ordeal, a 911 dispatcher lectured her and told her to "shut up" moments before she drowned.
In the early hours of August 24, Debra Stevens found herself in the rising floodwaters while delivering newspapers, which caused her SUV to swerve off the road. Since she was stuck in her car, the only way she could call for help was with her cell phone. After making a quick call to her mother-in-law, who was also delivering newspapers in the neighborhood, Stevens dialed 911, Daily Mail reported.
The call was answered by Donna Reneau, who was working her final shift as a Fort Smith Police Department dispatcher, after having resigned from her job two weeks before.
During the 22-minute-long call at 4.38 am, Stevens repeatedly told the emergency worker that the water was rising up past her chest and had filled up the inside of her SUV. She said she feared for her life while begging Reneau to send immediate help.
Her terrified pleas were met with the dispatcher's disgruntled attitude, an audio recording of the 911 call released Thursday, showed. "You're not going to die. I don't know why you're freaking out. I know the water level is high but you freaking out is doing nothing but losing your oxygen. So calm down," Reneau can be heard saying.
When Stevens apologized for driving into the floodwaters, Reneau said, "This will teach you next time not to drive in the water... I don't know how you didn't see it. You had to go right over it. The water just didn't appear." At one point the dispatcher is heard saying, "Miss Debbie, you're going to need to shut up."
Watching people standing in balconies around the flooded street, Stevens noted during the call that it was really rude that no one was stepping in to help her out of the dire situation. "A lot of people have called in on you, so don't think people are just sitting there. They're not going to get themselves in danger just because you put yourself in danger," the dispatcher replied.
Stevens repeatedly apologized to Reneau for being rude and asking for help. When she said that she was facing difficulty breathing and felt like she needed to vomit, the dispatcher replied, "Well, you're in water, you can throw up. It's not going to matter."
As the floodwaters began to rise and engulf her vehicle from inside, Stevens begged Reneau to pray with her as she waited for the first responders. "You go ahead and start the prayer," the disinterested dispatcher said.
In her final moments, Stevens started talking what little she could from underwater, screaming at the top of lungs and saying that the water was sucking her down.
"Miss Debbie? Miss Debbie," Reneau is heard saying before exclaiming, "Oh, my God. Did they find her? She's underwater now."
Stevens had already drowned when the first responders located her car and pulled her from the vehicle. They tried to revive her by performing CPR but it was too late.
"It's a tragic thing, I understand that. Is there maybe things we need to look at in our response? Absolutely," Police Chief Danny Baker said of the incident. "I believe that everything was done that was humanly possible given the circumstances at that time to save Miss Stevens life. I'm horribly sorry that it wasn't possible."
He added that in the wake of Stevens' death, the department would reevaluate its policies into responses and their dispatch center.