Re: 'It was not hard for anybody to see her': Bystander recalls finding South Milwaukee woman at bus stop who died

[Union workers]

On 16 Mar 2022, Lefty Lundquist <lefty_l...@ggmail.com> posted some
news:t0suqk$8rp$3...@dont-email.me:

> Union Democrats at work!

Charlotte Morris, of Milwaukee, was driving home the evening of Jan. 15
when she noticed a figure slumped over on a nearby sidewalk, in subzero
temperatures. It looked like a body.

The 32-year-old turned onto West Congress Street, slowed to a stop and
reversed her car to get a better look. There, on the corner with North
76th Street, was a woman lying in the snow. She was Jolene Waldref, a 49-
year-old mother of two from South Milwaukee, and she was not breathing.

Only minutes earlier, a private ambulance crew sent to help Waldref had
driven past, apparently without seeing her. They drove through the
intersection twice before notifying dispatch, which tried calling her
back, and leaving. Officials with the private ambulance company, Curtis
Ambulance, would later blame snowbanks, an electrical box and the darkness
at dusk for the ambulance crew not seeing Waldref.

Morris, who saw Waldref from the road only minutes later, was not buying
it.

"It was not hard for anybody to see her," she said.

But by the time Morris found her, it was too late. Waldref died.

The way that Waldref was found raises questions about why Morris, driving
in her car, was able to see the 49-year-old slumped on the ground but
emergency medical technicians responding in an ambulance to a call for
help at that intersection were not.

Morris said in an interview that Waldref was clearly visible, and that the
snowbanks between her and the road were not even close to a foot high.

Waldref was driving north on 76th Street and turning onto Congress, while
the ambulance crew had only driven east and west along Congress Street.

Little is known about the EMTs responding in the ambulance that night.

In a Tuesday press conference with reporters more than two weeks after
Waldref died, James Baker, the president of Curtis Ambulance, said that
personnel interviewed both EMTs and felt they "did their due diligence."

The EMTs did not get out of the ambulance to look for Waldref. Waldref had
called 911, saying she could not breathe and was "lightheaded and dizzy,"
according to an unredacted version of the 911 call obtained Friday from
the Milwaukee Police Department through a public records request.

It is unclear what exactly dispatchers had told the Curtis ambulance crew
about Waldref's condition.

Baker did not give the names of the EMTs or say what they said during
interviews about the incident. He said one of them had two years of
experience and the other 12.

Morris does not think the Curtis ambulance crew properly checked the
intersection for Waldref, especially considering the freezing temperatures
outside.

"If y'all had a 911 call for a specific location, it's supposed to be a
due diligence to get out and look," she said. "If somebody says that
they're at this location, they're there. There's no way around it."

Emergency medical responders should use all of their senses when trying to
find a patient, said Michael Boucher, a public safety consultant based in
Connecticut.

"Would it be reasonable to roll your window down as you're cruising
through that area?" he said, in case someone is trying to yell toward
responders.

Especially when it is extremely cold outside and the patient is known to
be outside, first responders should make every effort to find the patient,
Boucher said.

"They may have a minor injury, but that's not really becoming the
emergency. The emergency now becomes the weather," he said.

Protocols for first responders generally aren't specific about how to
search a scene for a patient, said Douglas Wolfberg, a former EMS director
who now works as a consultant and attorney for EMS providers.

It comes down to judgment calls, Wolfberg said. Sometimes it might be
easiest to find someone from the vantage point of a vehicle, he said,
while other times it’s better to get on foot to search around
obstructions.

In this case, Waldref was eventually spotted by someone in a vehicle.
Wolfberg suggested the EMS responders could have tried driving through the
intersection from more directions and slowing down more.

Reporter Rory Linnane, of the Journal Sentinel, contributed to this story.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2024/02/02/bystander-says-woman-
who-died-at-milwaukee-bus-stop-was-not-hard-to-see/72443541007/