Wednesday 8 June 2016

911 calls: Antoinette Brown begged for help during dogs attack

Dogs Killed 

Neighbors who called 911 last month to report a woman being attacked by dogs listened for several minutes as she screamed and the pack ripped her apart.Recordings of the 911 calls, released Tuesday, make plain the excruciating suffering endured by Antoinette Brown, who died a week after she was bitten more than 100 times. The calls come in from two people, 19 minutes apart, but both report that Brown is in severe distress.

Brown’s family has said the dogs devoured her like they were “eating a steak.”

The calls also reveal how the mauling affected Brown’s neighbors, who felt helpless to intervene. Both callers sound panicked, but tell dispatchers they are too afraid to try to save her.

“She’s out there begging for somebody to help her,” Jackie Humphrey tells a 911 dispatcher. “I know some dogs was out there and somebody came and ran them off. But she’s still out there moaning and groaning and I’m scared to go outside.”

Humphrey, who placed the first call at 4:43 a.m. May 2, says she’s at home and can hear Brown screaming outside.

“I’m calling because there’s a woman out here somewhere — I looked out there but I’m kinda scared I can’t find her — but now she’s out there begging for somebody to help her,” Humphrey says.

She says she can hear Brown begging: “Somebody help me. Help me! Somebody, help me!

“She’s been doing it — moaning and groaning — and if something happens to her I would feel bad if I didn’t call y’all to come out here and check it out,” Humphrey says.

The dispatcher promises to send police to the area, but it’s unclear when they arrive.

Police said last month that officers responded to the scene at 4:50 a.m. — seven minutes after Humphrey called. But when the next call comes in at 5:02 a.m., a man identified only as Kenneth reports that Brown is still being attacked by several dogs.

“Is the female moving around?” the dispatcher asks.

“Yeah, miss, that’s what I’m saying is some dogs are attacking. We can’t get close to her,” he says.

“Oh, they’re attacking her right now?”

“They attacked me too,” the man says. “She’s in the field laying down, calling for help. I can’t do nothing.”

The dispatcher suggests throwing some sort of weapon at the dogs until the police arrive, but the man says he has already tried. The dogs won’t let him get close enough to help.

Police apparently have arrived by the end of his phone call.

Dallas police referred questions about the timing of officers’ response to the city Tuesday. An assistant city manager had not returned a request for comment Tuesday night.

Brown’s daughter, Matisha Ward, told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that she was grateful for those who called the police during the attack. “My mama wouldn’t have even made it out of that field if that lady wouldn’t have called,” she said.

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