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Really? Unconscious Vomit-Covered Woman Rode DASH Bus for 2 Hours Before Someone Called 9-1-1
Bus seats via Shutterstock
It took two hours for someone to call 9-1-1 to get help for a passenger slumped over in her seat on a DASH bus and covered in her own vomit.The woman who finally called 9-1-1 to get the woman help told The Eastsider the story. Jamie Goodwin boarded the DASH bus that runs between Echo Park and Pico Union on Monday afternoon with her two daughters.
Passengers were forced to board through the back door so that they wouldn't run into the woman slumped over and covered in vomit. Goodwin told The Eastsider, "I was looking for signs of life from this woman, wondering how long this had been going on." The driver said that she had reported the problem to a dispatcher two hours ago and was awaiting assistance. Goodwin called 9-1-1 immediately, and paramedics responded within minutes. The woman was hospitalized, and she is expected to be released soon.
Sure, Los Angeles has seen worse cases of people in need of medical help being ignored (Edith Isabel Rodriguez's case comes to mind), but it's terrifying that the driver and two hours' worth of passengers basically ignored this woman.
The contractor who manages the buses MV Transportation will be financially penalized for doing the wrong thing in an emergency. James Lefton, the man who oversees the city’s DASH bus operations told The Eastsider: “They should have called 911 immediately.”
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