Posted on 05/09/2002 6:08:14 AM PDT by SJackson
The Chicago Police Department's Internal Affairs Division has launched an investigation to determine why a South Side woman who made three calls to 911 to report that her husband was violating an order of protection was murdered before police arrived on the scene.
A pair of police cars converged on the scene 17 minutes after the victim's first Friday night call to 911, but Ronyale White, 31, was dead on the bedroom floor with a gunshot wound in her head.
Whether a quicker response would have saved White's life is unknown. Even so, the question is why did officers take 17 minutes to arrive at her home in the 10600 block of South La Salle.
Was White's initial call--that her husband was violating the order of protection--given the "Priority 1A" status it deserved?
IAD opened a "complaint registered" in response to questions raised by the Chicago Sun-Times and by Leslie Landis, domestic violence liaison to Mayor Daley.
"Initially, the sequence of calls, when you look at it, appear to be within the guidelines, but it's questionable," police spokesman Pat Camden said.
White made three calls to 911 --at 11:40 p.m., 11:45 p.m. and at 11:50 p.m., prosecutors said.
Although police cars were reportedly dispatched to the scene after each of the three calls, none arrived at White's home until 11:57 p.m. That's when two cars arrived simultaneously and officers found White's body on the bedroom floor, said Larry Langford, spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Communications.
In the first call, White is heard saying her husband, Louis Drexel, 30, is outside her home and she has an order of protection against him.
Dispatchers then hear her saying, " 'He's inside the house,' " prosecutor LuAnn Rodi Snow said.
In the second call, White says Drexel left the house and was "punching holes in the tires of the Durango. He has a gun," Rodi Snow said. "He said she's going to die."
In the third and final call, operators hear a man's voice threatening death, then a loud noise, apparently a door being kicked in. Five seconds later, two shots are heard and the phone goes dead.
White had locked the door of her bedroom and activated a tape recorder, which captured much of the attack, including the gunshots. After the attack, Drexel put the gun in her hand in a failed attempt to make it appear to be a suicide, the prosecutor said.
Investigators said they think the gun was the same gun Drexel had reported stolen in early April.
After the shooting, Drexel went to his mother's Forest Park home. The mother called police, who arrived on the scene as Drexel was attempting suicide. The bullet grazed his right temple. Drexel was later hospitalized. He wore a blue hospital smock during a bond hearing Tuesday.
He was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bond.
The murder of a battered woman who made three frantic calls to 911 angered victims' advocates, including Landis.
"If that's how things transpired, it's a tragedy. The response should have been prompter. . . . Priority One calls should receive a response that's faster than 17 minutes," Landis said.
"We need to examine what we can do to prevent that kind of occurrence in the future. I'm asking them to investigate it."
Joyce Coffee, executive director of Family Rescue, a South Side nonprofit, said she was "saddened" by the police response, especially in light of recent changes that have bolstered police training on domestic violence and elevated emergency calls to the Priority One status that requires immediate dispatch.
Langford acknowledged that the 911 call-taker had the option of dispatching a police car while continuing to question the victim, but chose to interview White fully before radioing the first police car shortly after 11:43 p.m.
"The lady's demeanor was very calm and she was conversational. She didn't say anything in the call that indicated she was about to be bodily harmed. She said he got in with a key. There was no indication that he was kicking in a door. Because there was no weapon on the scene, that might have had something to do with it," he said.
Repeal all Chicago gun laws. Simple.
I ask all women out there...if you have a violent ex, who is obviously a threat (why else have a protection order?) would you buy a gun? Can't easily do that in Chicago.
Which means that they will sit on it until everyone forgets about it, then file it in the round file.
"The lady's demeanor was very calm and she was conversational. She didn't say anything in the call that indicated she was about to be bodily harmed. She said he got in with a key. There was no indication that he was kicking in a door. Because there was no weapon on the scene, that might have had something to do with it," he said."
My prayers go out to the victim. This was insane!!! In more ways than ONE!!!
TOTALLY neglegent on the police departments part.
I mean.. the dispatcher CHOSE to FULLY INTERVIEW HER?
Secondly,.. it is great that the victim TAPED this!!! The police department just looks totally inept when they try to backtrack by saying "the lady was calm.. there was no indication that she was about to be bodily harmed". BULL!!
Saying a man has just indicated that he is GOING TO KILL YOU.. INDICATES IMMINENT DANGER!!!!
This is just outrageous!!! Totally disgusting!!! To bad the lady hadn't gone out and become proficient in the use of Fire Arms. She'd be alive today!!
I hope the SOaB fries.
I agree!!
You know.. that she may have spoken in a clam manner in NO WAY should have prevented the 911 dispatcher from sending someone immediately!!
They are always telling hysterical people to "CALM DOWN... we can't understand you!!". This woman did that..and wasn't taken seriously!! Yet the door was heard being kicked down in the tape!! The police say he used a KEY!!! Puleeeease!!!
I think when there is a restraining order.. it should be attached to the person seeking protections phone number and cell phone numbers. Then it would pop up on the 911 callers phone number automatically!!!
As someone who was beaten horribly in my first marraige.. this just makes me sick. Back then.. there was NO protection. Police couldn't do ANYTHING unless they SAW the attack happening. But today, things are supposed to be different. 17 minutes is forever.. what she went through just makes me ill!!
Since the late 60's Illinois requires registration with the state and the issuance of a FOID (Firearm Owners ID card) to purchase or possess a gun (with a waiting period) or ammunition, so she could have acquired a long arm after applying for and being issued the card(assuming no criminal record, etc).
Don't need them! HA HA HA! Yeah right. Just ask the dead lady.
YES i AGREE THIS DESERVES TO BE SEEN.
My my horse computer with all the self defense rights good stuff is in the hospital. I am also on vacation until May 16th.
But at McArthur said I shall return.
In my absent shall you pick up the sword and fight the good fight?
Chicagofarmer
My weapon of choice these days is a .45 auto. And no, I wouldn't be greeting my husband with one, he's a sweetie! Just anybody who crawls in the bedroom window or kicks down the front door...
But of course, that a gun was the murder weapon will be touted as proof for the necessity of more gun restrictions.
I know I'm relieved. An IAD investigation will take everything back.
The gun laws are designed to appeal to a majority of women. They feel much safer knowing that it's tough to get ahold of a gun. Then they are the victims that are unarmed as a result. The Saturday special guns that are so often touted as "the ones" to limit, are the only protect most poor women can afford. Consequently the legislation against them turns out to be nothing more than a racist effort to disarm poor minority women.
Gun laws kill people. They kill the wrong people. They do not hurt criminals. They hurt poor defenseless people who cannot arm themselves.
Youre kidding, right? Have a nice vacation, but a thread like this and you tell me to PICK UP A SWORD?
For those who didnt want to be pinged on this, sorry. Some of us thought it would make sense to at least develop a list of those interested in 2nd Amendment issues in Illinois. You may live here, you may be nearby, you may be far away and realize that what happens here (we had gunowner registration in 68) can happen elsewhere. FR mail me if you dont want to be on such a list, or if I missed anyone. I pinged anyone who posted on the two threads on this incident.
..
A few comments, because sometimes I think these threads pass over important points.
A couple hours after posting this article I had the pleasure of attending the swearing in of new attorneys in the First (? Chicago) District of Illinois (no, Im not one of them).
An early speaker spoke about this incident (front page news today). Her charge to these new attorneys, its one thing to get a restraining order, but you MUST see that its enforced, do what it takes. The judges in attendance nodded. I have no doubt of anyones sincerity. Could the judges and lawyers do better, sure. Not the problem, nor the solution.
I was happy to see these threads didnt deteriorate into a criticism of the LEOs.
Seventeen minutes. I suspect the dispatcher will relive those minutes the rest of her life. I know several Chicago Cops, seventeen seconds would have worked for them. Maybe the system broke (Daley will play with that), but I doubt the people did. This was a tragedy.
What do we do?
While Chicagos gun laws are despicable, this victim could have been armed. It was in her home, a shotgun would have worked (sorry farmer, no sword). Why didnt she have one?
The first problem we must confront is the demonization of gun ownership. Maybe it was her choice not to be armed. But there are social pressures out there that disparage gun ownership. What can you do? If youre a shooter or hunter, particularly if you live in a urban area, let your friends and neighbors know. If youre responsible, theyll begin to understand that these are responsible sports, and that gunowners arent demons.
Does the 2nd Amendment protect a personal or collective right? Personal, of course, but the wrong question.
Predating the Constitution, at the very birth of our nation, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are LLLL, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
Whats missing, Life. Our rights are God given, protected by the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, but not fully enumerated. If we have a right to LIFE, we have a right to defend our lives. This would have been so basic to the founders, I can understand why it wasnt the first, or at least in the 2nd. Its basic, there is no Liberty or Pursuit of Happiness without Life.
Gun ownership, hunting, shooting sports, the 2nd Amendment needs to be explained to your friends in these common sense terms, not in arguments about about individual rights vs militias. If youre a responsible citizen, and gunowners are, your friends will understand.
If someone had spoken to Ronyale White, she might have understood. She might have made a different choice. She might not. But as gunowners we have an obligation to make sure our friends and neighbors are fully informed in their decision making, and to defend our decisions.
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