A woman suffering life-threatening injuries called 911, but no one answered

By Amber Grigley

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    MARION COUNTY, Indiana (WRTV) — A woman suffered life-threatening injuries after falling from her bike, but when her husband tried to call 911, no one answered the phone.

“There has to be quicker response time. I’ll tell you this. All I know is all you want is to hear is somebody on that other end,” said Carrie Petty.

It sounds like a nightmare, but that’s exactly what happened to an Indianapolis woman on Sunday.

“I was alone on that road for 7-10 minutes without anybody. Just negotiating with God to say, I’ve had a great life, and if this is going to be it, this is going to be it,” said Petty.

A talk with God is something Petty never thought she would have to face Sunday afternoon.

“We’ve had really great weather. My husband and I love riding. We just took a little stroll on our back road and low and behold dumb mistake, I had a pretty traumatic bike accident. I really broke a lot of things on the left side. At the time, we didn’t know if I had punctured a lung because I couldn’t breathe, and I had a really bad head injury,” said Petty.

Panicking and racing to call for help, her husband dialed 911.

“He said Carrie, I can’t get through to 911,” said Petty.

Her husband called over and over, stopping by neighbors, begging them to call while he rushed home to get his car.

“He yelled at neighbors who were in the backyard. He said, ‘Mike, call 911. Carrie had a fall. Call 911.’ People couldn’t get through. It was like tons of neighbors calling, and some got recordings, some nobody picked up,” said Petty.

That recorded message said that 911 was not available and to stay on the line.

“I was worried about my husband. Him having to do this. Just imagine what he saw and had to do,” said Petty.

Her husband finally made it back to her. While they were discussing the best possible way to get her in the car and to the hospital, her prayers were answered.

“Mike, our neighbor, came down the road, and he had a satellite phone, and for some reason, he could get through. He said, ‘They’re coming, they’re coming.’ and then right then we heard the most blessed sound, the sirens are coming in,” said Petty.

Carrie had multiple injuries on the left side of her body.

“I’m such a doer, and I got to know why this happened because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” said Petty.

She posted to social media and her Nextdoor App about being unable to contact 911, which started a conversation with so many having similar experiences.

“There are like over 6,000 views on this post on this Nextdoor App and hundreds of stories who have tried to call 911and they’re put on hold,” said Petty.

WRTV’s Amber Grigley reached out to the Marion County 911 center, the Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency (MESA). In a statement, they said, “Yesterday, the 911 Call Center received a message that a resident had difficulty contacting the Center over the weekend after a bike accident. Staff has reached out to the resident and are currently gathering additional information as they investigate the incident.”

“That’s our entry-level into healing, and it should be the best, and that’s my goal. It shouldn’t be anything but that,” said Petty.

A representative also tells Amber, “When people call 911, they should stay on the line until they are connected with an operator. If someone keeps hanging up and calling, they’ll keep getting moved to the back of the call queue.”

“I’m just trying to figure out how we fix it and how we make it better and so nobody has to go through what I went through,” said Petty.

In April, the governor signed Senate Bill 43into law, expected tohelp staff 911 communication centers across the state. The new law will allow 911 centers to hire people who don’t live in the county they serve. Previously, 911 centers could only hire from within their own county.

Amber asked Tuesday if staffing was to blame in this situation. She was told, no, it was not.

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