In the world of the internet, bad pranks are sadly a thing. People do things for the clicks and views and sometimes people that are legitimately in need of something get brushed aside because they think it’s a prank.
This is the tragic case of Kyle Plush who went to Seven Hills School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kyle was grabbing some tennis gear in the back of his family’s Honday Odyssey when the worst possible thing happened.
The back seat flipped up and Kyle was sandwiched in-between the seats.
Since Kyle was pinned down and had no access to his phone, he used the handsfree Siri option to call 911. He said to the dispatcher:
“I probably don’t have much time left, so tell my mom that I love her if I die. This is not a joke. This is not a joke. I’m trapped inside my gold Honda Odyssey van in the sophomore parking lot of Seven Hills [unintelligible]. Send officers immediately. I’m almost dead.”
The call somehow got disconnected and then police tried to call the number back. But of course he couldn’t answer due to being pinned.
Police officers showed up at the scene described, and circled around Kyle’s school. They looked for a whole 11 minutes and left since they couldn’t find the call. Once officer was recorded saying that he didn’t even think they would find someone. Another aspect of this story that is terrible is that body cam footage has been released of the officers. They don’t even get out of their squad car to investigate further.
Kyle was eventually found, hours later by his father six hours after he first tried to contact police. It was later found that Kyle died due to suffocation from compression of his chest. Police Chief Eliot Isaac said this about the tragedy:
“This was a horrific tragedy. We share in their heartbreak around this. Police officers, firefighters and even our emergency dispatch personnel — you get into this because you want to help. Something went wrong here and we need to find out why we weren’t able to provide that help that we hoped we could have.”
Apparently this call center is known for having numerous problems with their staff and now are really getting scrutinized for this horrid string of events. Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said in a statement to the public:
“We owe the Plush family and the public a detailed and comprehensive explanation of everything that has been done, recommendations made and actions taken at the 911 center that could have had any bearing on the practices that may have contributed to this tragedy.”
If you are wondering if Honda is to blame for this, no recalls of the 2004 Honda Odyssey have been called at this time. Chris Martin of Honda said:
“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family during this difficult time. Honda does not have any specific information from which to definitively determine what occurred in this incident.”
This is just awful, I hope his family finds the justice they deserve.