Interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham says miscommunication led to a delayed police response, as a District firefighter and paramedic struggled with a woman who attacked them with a knife.
“The fire department clearly needed some assistance, and that information wasn’t clearly communicated to the (police) officer in the field,” said Newsham, in a WTOP interview.
NBC Washington first reported the incident, which took place early Thursday morning, when D.C. Fire and EMS responded to a call for a heart attack, from a woman in Northeast D.C.
Eventually, the woman threatened to harm firefighters and herself, but the first responders waited 20 minutes for police to help.
NBC4 said the woman had a history of making calls to 911, but in each case refused medical treatment.
“We had someone who was calling for service, and they called 13 times in a 13-hour period,” said Newsham.
Newsham said supervisors are empowered to not respond to a 911 call, “if there are repeated calls where we go, and it appears that they don’t actually need service.”