BAD CALL

911 Operator Charged After Refusing to Send Ambulance to Mom Who Died

“She’s going to die,” the victim's daughter said on the emergency call.

A 911 operator in Pennsylvania has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for not sending an ambulance to a woman who later died of internal bleeding. Diania Kronk, 54, was found dead in July 2020 a day after her daughter, Kelly Titchenell, pleaded with emergency services for help. Leon “Lee” Price, 50, took the call, but refused to send an ambulance until he’d been given more assurance that Kronk would actually go to the hospital if help arrived. A recording of the call shows Price responding to Titchenell’s request by asking if Kronk would be “willing to go” to the hospital, which was around 30 minutes away from her home in Sycamore. “She will be, ’cause I’m on my way there, so she’s going, or she’s going to die,” Titchenell replied. Price asked Titchenell to call back when she’d arrived so that they could confirm Kronk would be willing to go—but Titchenell was unable to make further calls when she arrived at her mother’s property.