Watch above: An early morning crash that left the driver dead is under review by Saskatoon police. Meaghan Craig talks to officials about what witnesses say was an extreme delay in response to their 911 calls.
SASKATOON – A 911 communication breakdown may have cost a man his life. Saskatoon police have launched a review into a lagged response time on Friday morning when it took them more than an hour to arrive at the scene of a collision.
“There was a lady across the street, she ran across just to let me know there was an accident out front,” said Sang Chanmany of Nestor’s Bakery.
Without a second thought, Chanmany jumped into action.
“I called 911 right away, it was probably around quarter after five.”
READ MORE: 1 dead in crash west of Prince Albert, Sask.
The pleas for help came after a man driving a vehicle eastbound on 20th Street West crossed the street, striking a parked car.
“She (911) just kept telling me we’ll get there as soon as we can.”
Frantically, Chanmany began to ask others to call 911 as the minutes ticked by.
“I noticed the man wasn’t moving, I told her that,” said Chanmany.
“He was drooling, the car on drive. I don’t know it’s just scary, it took so long for them to respond.”
One hour and six minutes to be exact for officers to arrive on scene.
“It wasn’t acceptable that we didn’t arrive there before we did today. We know that we want to review that and figure out exactly what went wrong,” said Alyson Edwards of the Saskatoon Police Service.
An emergency response time review into the collision has now been launched by the force.
“We have to look at what information came into into our dispatch unit and what information was then sent along to officers and how that was all handled.”
According to Edwards, when police receive a call regarding a collision the standard response time is 70 minutes. The response drops significantly to 17 minutes if there are reports of injuries.
From the front doors of police headquarters to the scene of the accident, it took Global News three minutes and forty-three seconds, without the use of lights and sirens. Police cannot confirm where the closest officer was to the scene when the first 911 call came in.
“We have to determine how that call was coded and how it was treated when it came in.”
Police say the man appeared to have suffered a medical emergency just prior to the crash. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed at the scene and the driver was transported to hospital by MD Ambulance where he pronounced deceased.
An investigation into the man’s death by the office of the chief coroner is now underway.
Could a faster response time have saved the man’s life? Police said they wouldn’t speculate and have reached out to his family to express their condolences.
“We want to assure them that we’re going to review this and make changes if we need to,” said Edwards.
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