COLUMBUS, Ohio — A 911 dispatcher has come under fire for her brusque replies to a woman who called to report a rape.
The woman said she was at a friend’s house and was woken up by a man she didn’t know who pressed a gun against her head, forced her to perform oral sex, and fled out the back door, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
The woman provided the intersection of the house, but said she was afraid to outside and look at the address and asked if police could track her on her cellphone.
“You’re going to have to come outside,” the dispatcher said.
Through sobs, she described the man as “a small white boy” in a white shirt.
“Ma’am, you’re going to have to quit crying so I can get the information from you,” the dispatcher said. When the woman wasn’t able to provide a further description, the dispatcher said, “Well, they’re not going to be able to find him on this information that you’ve given. We’ll send the officers over to talk to you.”
“You’re kidding me right?” the woman responded. “I’m like a 20-year-old from Upper Arlington. I don’t know what you deal with every day, but the kind of sympathy you have right now is zero.”
A day after the assault, police arrested Michael Callihan, 30, and charged him with rape and aggravated burglary.
The dispatcher has been “retrained” and Columbus police are conducting an internal investigation of the call.