Detroit EMS…Statistically Speaking…Units Were Available and Dispatched?

Six people were shot the other day in Detroit. One died, the other 5 were transported by police apparently.

FossilMedic reported this story on FireGeezer the other day here.

The story came out that no ambulances were available. Now, Detroit City Officials are saying that isn’t the case. The claims by City officials as reported in the linked news reports below would have some people feeling as though everything was copacetic and that the spin was created by the media. Those of us who work in EMS easily find holes in these accounts.

You be the judge…

“A third call came in to EMS at approximately 2:16 a.m., and it was dispatched at 2:23 … to the 12th Precinct,” Green said. “Three minutes into that call, the unit was called back.”

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110412/METRO01/104120359/Detroit-official-defends-EMS-response-in-multiple-shooting-incident#ixzz1JJPfWa62

This really doesn’t tell us anything… How long did it take to dispatch them? How long would it have taken for them to get there?

and

Deputy Mayor Saul Green said a 911 call came in at 2:16 a.m. and an ambulance was dispatched seven minutes later, but was called off after police transported the victims to a hospital.

From Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/article/20110412/NEWS01/104120378/Response-Detroit-shooting-disputed?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

Dispatched 7 minutes later? If units were available, shouldn’t they have been dispatched earlier? I don’t know how Detroit works, but 7 minutes is a LONG time from call to dispatch.

This entire situation smells fishy to me.

Detroit has been plagued with issues for a long time. Luckily for them and the victims, no other deaths occured due to the failed response. You just have to love the spin put on by officials when everything doesn’t come together…