A Pennsylvania 911 operator has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after he failed to send an ambulance to a woman who died the next day.
Leon 'Lee' Price, 50, did not send emergency aid to the home of Diania Kronk, 54, despite her daughter repeatedly asking that an ambulance come and take her to the hospital. The following day, Kronk died from internal bleeding.
According to a report by Fox News, Price was charged last week over his involvement in Kronk's death. Per court documents, the 911 operator initially agreed to go to dispatch an ambulance - but then began to repeatedly question whether Kronk would be willing to go to the hospital.
On the recording, Price can be heard speaking with Kronk's daughter, 38-year-old Kelly Titchenell.
"We really need to make sure she’s willing to go," he tells Titchenell during the call, to which she responds: "She’s going to go, she’s going to go. Cause if not, she’s going to die, there’s nothing else."
The call ends when Titchenell reports that she is about 10 minutes from her mother's house when Price instructs her to call back once she has arrived.
You can listen to part of the call in the report below:"Call me when you get out there, OK?" he can be heard saying in the recording.
Despite giving Titchenell the impression that he was dispatching an ambulance, a Green County detective reportedly said in the court documents that he never did this.
The grieving daughter recalled finding her mother naked on her front porch and speaking incoherently. She did not go to the hospital and passed away the next day.
"I believe she would be alive today if they would have sent an ambulance," Titchenell told Fox, adding: "This is unheard of, to me. I mean, they’ll send an ambulance for anything. And here I am telling this guy that my mom’s going to die. It’s, like, her death, and she doesn’t get an ambulance."
Alongside involuntary manslaughter, Price has also been charged with reckless endangerment, official oppression, and obstruction.
He is currently out on a $15,000 unsecured bond.
Prosecutor Green County District Attorney Dave Russo told Fox News that he will also be investigating whether there are policies in place that allow 911 operators to refuse dispatching an ambulance, saying he has "major concern as to the safety of the community in this regard."
Per CBS News, Russo added: "I want to know why this happened in my county.
"I want to know why services were not provided. I want to know, was there an informal policy that is outside of the actual procedures? We have a lot of questions that we are going to get into in the investigation."
Meanwhile, Titchenell says she's "so happy" to be finally getting justice for her late mom. "This is all I wanted, was for him to be held accountable," she said.
