By Adam Ferrise
Advance Ohio Media
CLEVELAND — A Cleveland police dispatcher who called for an ambulance for a 20-year-old woman who fell from a second-floor balcony inside a downtown Cleveland bar on St. Patrick’s Day made the situation seem less dire than what actually happened.
The police dispatcher told the Cleveland EMS dispatcher that a woman fell at Spirits bar on West 6th Street and was bleeding from her nose, according to the dispatch recordings released Thursday by the city.
“There’s a 26-year-old female with a bloody nose but she’s unconscious,” the police dispatcher said.
The police dispatcher said she was breathing and EMS asked what happened to her.
“Probably too much drinking. Probably St. Patrick’s Day happened to her,” the police dispatcher said laughing at the end of his statement.
EMS told the police dispatcher that she would send an ambulance right away.
Two minutes later, however, another dispatcher told Cleveland EMS that police officers were asking that the quicken their response to the bar and that the woman was bleeding from her head.
The dispatcher said she didn’t have any update to give the ambulance on what happened or the woman’s condition.
Cleveland EMS and police are reviewing the recordings to see if anything improper was done, according to Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia.
The city has not yet released the 911 calls from the incident.
The Middleburg Heights woman’s last known condition was listed as critical on March 20. MetroHealth officials have said they would no longer provide updates on her recovery.
The woman fell headfirst about 15 feet and struck her head on a granite railing that separates the VIP area from the regular bar. The impact ripped a chunk of granite off the railing.
She was rushed to the hospital and the bar was shut down.
The Ohio Investigative Unit, which investigates liquor-license violations, cited the bar for selling and giving liquor to underage patrons.
Fire department building inspectors also cited the bar, shutting it down temporarily.
The building inspectors found the bar violated several building codes, including having an unsafe railing on the second floor. The bar also was not certified to have patrons on the second floor, according to the abatement order.
Other citations included that the bar had an obstructed exit, and out-of-date fire extinguishers and sprinkler system. The abatement order caused the bar to be shut down temporarily.
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