Don't stop in Strasburg!!!
Stop at a place that has a hospital emergency room--Winchester, Woodstock, Front Royal.
Some day (decades from now), if the Corridor H connector (that will connect Interstate 81 with Interstate 79 in WVA) ever gets built, then a hospital with an emergency room may be built in Strasburg. In the meantime, stop at a place that has a hospital emergency room--in Winchester, Woodstock, or Front Royal.
The life that you save may be your own!
Questions: (1) Why did the woman who placed the 911 call have to keep repeating herself? (2) Why did it take so long for police backup to arrive? (3) Why did it take so long for EMS to arrive? Town Hall and EMS are located at the bottom of the hill and the Ramada is at the top. Seconds are important in an emergency.
Transparency? Where's the timeline? When did 911 receive the call? When did Officer Rathore arrive at the scene? When did he call for backup? When did backup arrive at the scene? When did EMS arrive at the scene? When was Melissa Tompkins taken to Winchester Medical Center? When did she die? What was the cause of death from the autopsy? Could Melissa Tompkins have survived if she had been helped sooner?
This investigation took six months. Any investigation worth its salt would have developed a timeline. Both Officer Rathore and Melissa Tompkins needed help. Maybe there's something that can be learned from the response times in this incident. If so, then we owe it to Officer Rathore, Melissa Tompkins, their families, and the public to learn how response times can be improved.
Who has seen the actual investigation report besides the investigators? What we have seen is a prepared video posted by Chief Sager on facebook. Who, independent of those being investigated and the investigators, has seen the actual report? Transparency requires that some independent, unbiased person(s) outside of the investigation review the actual report and report their independent, unbiased findings--e.g. the Northern Virginia Daily. Will that happen? I'm not holding by breath.
Melissa Tompkins was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It cost her her life, and the life of her unborn child.
It's sad for me to think that if she had been in Winchester, Woodstock or Front Royal, with hospital emergency rooms, that she and her unborn child may be alive today.
attribution: wp paarz and flickr
