911 call heard at Pynn-Butler trial sparks RNC review
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is scrutinizing how a 911 call was handled soon after Nick Winsor was shot to death in a garage on Portugal Cove Road.
The recording of the call was played last week for a Supreme Court jury hearing evidence in the second-degree murder trial of Philip Pynn and Lyndon Butler, and has raised questions about the preparation for people who field emergency calls.
'Stop crying. You're not going to help anybody by crying. Stopcrying right now.'- RNC employee who answered 911 call
The call was placed by Barbara Reddigan and her daughter, Megan Reddigan, from the home where Nick Winsor was shot to death in the garage.
The 911 service relayed their call to police headquarters where the woman who answered the line appeared to have difficulty understanding Reddigan and her daughter.
Extremely upset, the women described what they were seeing.
"Stop crying. You're not going to help anybody by crying," the woman answering the call says in a firm tone to Barbara Reddigan.
"Stop crying right now."
At one point, the operator appeared to confuse the women, particularly when she asked Megan Reddigan about her father. Her mother was the girlfriend of Billy Power — the man the Crown says was the target of a botched robbery attempt.
"She said you wanted an ambulance for your dad and he's not even there," the operator says.
'They've gone nuts there'
Appearing to snap at the women, the operator said, "You need to talk to me now and answer my questions."
Later, as emotions run high from the Reddigans, the operator says, "Oh my God they're screaming," suggesting that she may have been speaking to nearby coworkers.
The RNC is now reviewing how the call was handled, although the force is not saying how it will work or how long it is expected to take.
"The jobs that they are do are not very easy. We can't screen or monitor all the calls that go on," said Const. Steve Curnew.
"So when this came to our attention, we took the initiative to start an investigation into it."
The woman who took the call is still working, the RNC said. The force would not comment on what possible discipline the operator might face.
"You know, this is not a typical call that our call takers would take on a regular basis," Curnew said.
"We might take one of these calls you know once every couple of years. So, something along those lines, we're certainly looking at and see if we could manage it or handle it better."