Kyle Plush: Questions are piling up about 911, police response

It’s been two weeks since Kyle Plush was crushed to death in his van, and questions are piling up about what went wrong in the emergency response and who is to blame.

What information did officers get from the 911 center? Did they know his precise location? Did they know someone was trapped?

Police officials have said officers were at the school for 11 minutes, but body camera footage shows only three. So how long did officers search? And did they ever get out of their car? 

Cincinnati Police Department spokesman Lt. Steve Saunders declined on Monday to answer specific questions, citing an ongoing internal investigation.

“I am confident many of your questions will be answered in due time,” Saunders said, “but it would be imprudent of me to provide answers to these questions until the comprehensive review of this incident is completed.”  

City Council has a committee meeting at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the Emergency Communications Center, and The Enquirer has requested additional public records from the police and sheriff’s departments.

Until then, below is the most complete public timeline to date: What happened when, what we know and what we don’t.

Above: The police report contains a latitude/longitude that seems to mark the lot where Kyle was found. It's not clear if officers had that information in real time.

3:14 p.m., first 911 call

Sixteen-year-old Kyle Plush called 911. “I’m trapped in my van outside the Seven Hills parking lot,” he said, telling operator Stephanie MaGee that he couldn’t hear her and that he was in desperate need of help. “I’m going to die here,” Kyle said.

MaGee made several notes in the incident report, including that the caller was stuck in a van and might have been in the thrift-store parking lot across from the school. Police wouldn't say if incident notes are typically sent to officers' in-car computers and specifically if the officers at Seven Hills saw those notes while they were at the school. But the thrift-store lot is where Kyle was ultimately found. 

3:26 p.m., police response

Officers Edsel Osborne and Brian Brazile arrived at the school. Officials have said the officers searched for 11 minutes, and dispatch records indicate they were on-scene for 11 minutes. But body camera footage only documents a three-minute search. It is unclear why there is an eight-minute difference.

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Osborne and Brazile were dispatched to 5471 Red Bank Road for “unknown trouble.” On the incident report, there is a latitude/longitude combination that leads almost directly to where Kyle's van was parked. It is unclear if Osborne and Brazile saw those coordinates.

Body camera footage shows no sign either officer got out of the cruiser at the school. It shows them searching only one of five potential lots. The one they searched was not the one where Kyle was found.

3:35 p.m., second 911 call

Kyle called 911 a second time, pleading more urgently for help. He said he was trapped in a gold Honda Odyssey van at Seven Hills, Hillsdale. He said he was almost dead and asked the operator to tell his mother he loved her.

Amber Smith was taking that call, but she later told officials she could not hear Kyle on the line and that her computer screen froze.

A review of the call – where Smith received an “unacceptable” 60 percent rating from her bosses – notes that the phone company investigated and did not find any problems with the system. So if Smith couldn’t hear, it is unclear why.

Smith was put on leave immediately following the incident but has since returned to work.

Jenny King, a computer systems analyst at the 911 center, said Tuesday that the phone quality at the center has been different since the city switched to a new provider. King said audio recordings – like the ones released to media – are better than what the operators hear in real time. 

3:37 p.m., officers close incident

Officers Osborne and Brazile marked the incident closed. Again, the duration and extent of their search is unclear. 

It is also unclear if the officers or anyone from law enforcement contacted the school to ask for help or report the call. 

3:48 p.m., sheriff's office search

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Doug Allen called the 911 center to ask about the incident. Allen was directing traffic at the school and said he told MaGee, the 911 operator, that he wanted to take a second look. 

During that call, Allen speculated the whole thing might be a prank. 

Chief Deputy Mark Schoonover said an internal investigation showed Allen never saw Kyle's vehicle and did nothing wrong.

The Enquirer has requested a copy of that investigation.

8:56 p.m., Kyle's body is found 

A Seven Hills student called police to report a commotion in the thrift-store lot. There, Kyle's father had found his son’s body. Police and fire units responded to the scene.