FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — An internal investigation has cleared a former 911 dispatcher in Arkansas of any wrongdoing in how she handled a call in which she scolded a frantic newspaper delivery woman for driving into floodwaters before she drowned.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the review by the Fort Smith police department concluded Donna Reneau performed her duties as required. Reneau was working her final shift Aug. 24 when she took the call from 47-year-old Debra Stevens.
The department received hundreds of phone calls saying Reneau was disrespectful for scolding Stevens as she sobbed and asked for help and for telling her “this will teach you next time don’t drive in the water.” Stevens drowned as her SUV was swept away by flash flooding.
Dean Pitts, who led the police department’s review, said there was no negligence in Reneau’s actions in dispatching first responders or in the actions of those who responded to the scene.
Reneau faced no criminal charges in Stevens’ death.
In the report, Pitts wrote Reneau’s actions wouldn’t have merited being fired and that it’s “often necessary to take a stern or commanding tone, or to even raise one’s voice” when dealing with someone who may be hysterical in a critical incident.
