Man Dies After 911 Dispatcher Tells Him To Go Back To Crime Scene

Most people take 911 for granted. They assume that the number provides reliable, top-notch services during an emergency, and most of the time they are correct. However, it’s easy to forget that 911 call centers are staffed by real people with real flaws, and like any service, your results may vary.

That’s what a Sudanese immigrant learned four years ago when he was driving through Denver on his way home. Jimma Pal Reat was traveling with two brothers and a friend when a red jeep drove up beside them. The men inside yelled racial slurs at Reat, threw bottles at his windows, and at least one of them waved a gun according to a police report. When Reat made it home, he called 911 to report the incident, as well as several minor injuries.

But the 911 dispatcher gave him the worst advice imaginable. Juan Rodriguez insisted that he had to go back to Denver. For 14 minutes, Reat and his brothers begged the dispatcher to send them help, since they were injured and in as state of shock, but the dispatcher would not yield. For reasons that aren’t exactly clear, Rodriguez repeatedly told Reat that he wouldn’t send any police unless Reat went back to Denver.

Eventually the men gave up and decided to drive back to Denver. There they ran across the same group of guys who had accosted them earlier. They shot Reat to death, and drove away. They have yet to be identified.

Reat’s family tried to sue the dispatcher, but their case was thrown out of court last week. According to the court “It cannot be said that any of Rodriguez’s actions, as foolish as they were, ‘limited in some way the liberty of a citizen to act on his own behalf.”