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Bus stop death; 911 calls, bodycam released
FOX6 News has received new bodycam footage and the 911 calls that shows the aftermath of the death of a 49-year-old South Milwaukee woman who slipped on the ice and died in the cold waiting for help.
MILWAUKEE - A South Milwaukee woman slipped on the ice and died in the cold waiting for help back on Jan. 15. Now, new body camera footage shows some of what happened in the aftermath.
The newly-released bodycam footage from Jan. 15 shows first responders canvassing the area at 76th and Congress in Milwaukee. That's where 49-year-old Jolene Waldref slipped and fell on ice near a bus stop and later died.
"I think when she fell, she might have hit her head on that bus stop," a first responder is heard in the footage. "You can see where see was laying."
The frigid temperatures at the time were cold enough to send an officer back to his car – shivering.
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Waldref called 911 at 5:22 p.m. on Jan. 15 – indicating she could not breathe. The call quickly got transferred to medical. That is when Waldref shared her location and phone number. But she struggled to say what happened.
Jolene Waldref
"What's the reason you're calling for medical help?" asked the 911 dispatcher.
"I'm so light-headed and dizzy," Waldref replied.
This leads us back to the response. Fire officials dispatched Curtis Ambulance to the scene. Curtis is contracted with the city. A Curtis crew showed up five minutes later, searched the area near 76th and Congress, but did not see Waldref. They did not get out in the cold to look for Waldref which Curtis officials said earlier this week was not wrong. It was not until the second call about 22 minutes later from a neighbor that responders went back out to the area to find Waldref.
"I was on my way home and I see this lady on the side of the road, and she's just on the ground laying down," the citizen caller said. "We need emergency right now. Somebody!"
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Crews eventually found Waldref just before 6 p.m. and initiated life-saving measures. However, Waldref was pronounced deceased at 6:13 p.m.
On Tuesday, Jan. 30, Curtis Ambulance's president stood by his crews' actions.
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Woman slips on ice, dies in bitter cold; internal review complete
Milwaukee fire officials conducted an internal review concerning the death of a 49-year-old woman who slipped on ice near 76th and Congress on Jan. 15.
On Wednesday, 5th District Alderman Lamont Westmoreland sent out a statement which reads, "I am 100% confident that there will be SOP (standard operating procedure) updates for private companies." Westmoreland wrote these changes will strengthen protocols to reduce the chance of this happening again.
FOX6 News reached out to Alderman Westmoreland and the Milwaukee Fire Department to ask what changes are being considered. We have not heard back.