Today, I gladly turn my blog over to a man, friend and a father who suffered the worst tragedy possible. For the past 4 years, I have been educating, lobbying, and pleading with legislative leaders and technical authorities to recognize and promote the correction of a terrible issue that is simple, and affordable to fix. At the core of this problem is Hank Hunt, a simple east Texas Cowboy/Photographer that loved his daughter like I have never seen before. The story is a simple one and can be found at http://KariHuntFoundation.com where you can self-educate, and even offer to help if so inclined.
December 1st marks 4 years since my daughter was murdered.
Taken in a brutal way by someone she thought would never do what he did. He lied, he mislead, he tricked and lured her to a small room in a hotel where, once he knew she was determined to leave him, he asked for one last hug. That was the way he did it. She willingly let him put his arms around her, thinking, hoping this would finally seal it for him. Instead, the hug turned to a grab and hold with one arm while the other arm began stabbing her, relentlessly. She screamed to her oldest daughter, 9 years old at the time to call 911. She also screamed, “Brad you’re killing me!” He didn’t care, that was his goal. Her 9 year old immediately began dialing 911 from the hotel room phone. All she heard was static, and her mother screaming, as she continued to dial 911, a simple number created to reach help in an emergency. Nothing, she tried a total of four times but not knowing that at some hotels you need to dial an access number to get an “outside line” such as a “9” then the number you are calling, she never was answered. Since then, I along with 100’s of others have fought to change this and we are making progress, I feel confident we will see Kari’s Law a reality. Yesterday, I discovered that the Dispatchers, (call takers) at our local 911 call centers were once again denied having the classification of “1st Responders” instead they will continue to be classified as “Clerks” “Clerical”. Why? They are trained to assess the situation, determine what is happening, initiate immediate dispatch and continue with life saving instructions all without seeing the problem such as those who arrive at the scene with as much knowledge as they can get from the very “clerk” that answered the call, asked the appropriate questions and assessed the situation with life-saving knowledge they have trained for. I firmly believe that had my granddaughter gotten an answer that day the “Clerk” would have known the words to say that very well could have saved my daughter if not, the help she so desperately needed would have arrived long before she died allowing a greater chance for survival. Are Dispatchers, Telecommunicators, call takers 1st Responders? I think so! Besides, when the people currently classified as 1st Responders return from a call aren’t there reports being written and filed? Doesn’t that make them “Clerical”?
Hank Hunt – Kari’s Dad
Hank, you have my deepest sympathy for your loss. Your entire family has suffered for the past 1461 days, and there is nothing I or anyone else can do to prevent that or even eliminate that from continuing. What I CAN DO, and what I will commit to you is the following:
I will continue to use everything in my power to help you on your mission to ensure no other child is ever put in the situation where the phone in front of them will not dial 9-1-1 to reach emergency service dispatcher’s – America’s FIRST 1st responders.
The World According to Fletch . . . 