Woman and small child found dead in Eastpointe
Eastpointe police is investigating a double homicide that happened on the 23000 block of Normandy. A body was discovered inside a home Thursday night.
Police say a woman in her 20’s and her 13-month-old daughter were found dead inside the home.
It is still very early in the investigation as they are not revealing the cause of death.
They are, however, looking at a person of interest.
Man says Detroit 911 operator hung up on family as wife stopped breathing
When you call 911 and say your wife needs an ambulance, you expect them to respond quickly, not hang up on you. However, when Jerome Fowlke’s wife collapsed, 911 was no help.
After his wife collapsed, Fowlke called 911 for an ambulance. He says the dispatcher was rude and accused him of making a prank call but Detroit Police say that’s not true.
Wednesday night, Jerome Fowlkes and his family were home when it happened. His 41-year-old wife, who suffers from blood clots in her lungs, suddenly stopped breathing
He knew he had to think fast so he had his son call 911 while he tried to help revive his wife. In that instant, an already chaotic scene turned into a catastrophe.
“I grabbed the phone from him. (I was) trying to ask them how to do CPR and the operator said ‘this is a prank. I’m terminating the call,’” Fowlke said.
He said the dispatcher hung up, leaving Jerome stunned. He had his daughter call 911 and they went through the process again.
“I gave her our address and they said they just got that call and I said ‘Yes, they just hung up on me’. She said that wasn’t her that hung up but she was going to help us,” Da’jana Fowlke said.
Jerome wasn’t going to take any chances. He and his son grabbed his wife, put her in the car, and drove to the hospital. The dispatcher canceled the ambulance.
Detroit Police Assistant Chief James White said he didn’t like how the call went down but says the dispatcher never accused the family of prank calling. He said she did terminate the call and likely do so too quickly.
“She could have been a little bit more sensitive, towards the end,” White said. “I think her last words were ‘no response, call terminated’ which is part of their protocol. However, under those circumstances, with everything being as heightened as it was, I do have a little bit of concern with that. We’re going to be opening an investigation and looking at that issue.”
Ashante made it to the hospital and is in stable condition but Jerome still feels that the dispatcher needed to handle the call much differently and has filed a complaint with the DPD.
FOX 2 has tried to get a copy of the 911 but police have not released it as of 5:00 p.m. Thursday. Around 4:30 p.m., FOX 2’s Taryn Asher was able to listen to the call. She verified that the dispatcher did not accuse the family of making a prank but the dispatcher was rude and ended the call.
White says they’re looking into it and the department will be transparent.
Water rates to increase in Detroit, suburbs but some say not without a fight
Water rates are going up in Detroit and the suburbs.
The plan is rates will be going up 16 percent in the city and about 11 percent in the suburbs for water – and many residents of both are not happy.
Sewer rates will be going up 16.7 percent and 3.4 percent in water. But the city of Detroit which controls the rates, says it is not an increase but a cost adjustment.
Some communities will have increases, some decreases – depending on how they have estimated their use.
“On average the suburban wholesale portion of their budgets will go up 6.4 percent,” said Sue McCormick, the director of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
“Right now the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is making that determination based upon the revenue that’s needed,” said Mark Hackel, Macomb County executive. “I don’t know if it is fair or not.”
The board of water commissioners will make a recommendation to hike the rates for both water and sewer.
Ultimately, the decision is up to the Detroit City Council which must approve the rate change.
“This (wouldn’t be) what we were promised when we entered into the agreement at no more than four percent a year,” said George Cushingberry of the Detroit City Council. “There will have to be some significant scrutiny on that. And most of us won’t want to hear it because that’s not what we were promised.”
The four percent cap on water increases that was part of the Great Lakes Water Authority in Detroit’s bankruptcy, does not take effect until July.
Still the increases are hard to justify, some say.
Written by LBeasley (Lauren Beasley), Digital Producer of The Morning Heat and Sports Editor of Radio One Detroit
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Woman And Small Child Found Dead In Eastpointe was originally published on hothiphopdetroit.com
