KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Emergency 911 recordings from the morning 27-year-old Nicholas Moeder died at Rosedale Park after stepping on a downed power line, were released on Friday.
Moeder died June 16 when he went to Rosedale Park to play disc golf with a friend at about 3 a.m. He didn’t realize that a storm the afternoon before had knocked down a power line at the park, among other locations.
On one of the calls, a cab driver calls 911 because he finds a man crying about his friend being dead. The 911 operator asks the cab driver to let him talk to the friend.
Nicholas’ friend is hysterical on the call, demanding they send someone now, and tells the 911 operator that his friend is being electrocuted as they are speaking. The 911 operator says he is having trouble understanding what the man is saying because he is shouting.
WARNING: The 911 recording below contains language and emotion that may be disturbing and offensive to some listeners.
In another call, an official from BPU calls to ask for the phone number of the man who called 911.
“We’re on our way there, just kind of curious to get some details because I’m sure there will be a little bit of backlash for that,” he said.
The 911 operator asks him if he wants to be put through to officers at the scene.
“Our guys will just talk to him when we get there. I just didn’t… We were kind of wondering because someone from the Parks and Rec has been calling all night. We’ve been tellin’ them, you know, we’re tryin’ to get there as quick as we can, just shorthanded,” the BPU caller said.
“We were just wondering if it was a possible prank call to get us out there quicker?” he asked.
The emergency operator assured him it wasn’t a prank and then the BPU official asked if the guy was still alive, to which the operator responded, “I’m not sure.” (Story continues after second 911 call.)
Earlier this week, BPU released new information about their response to the downed lines and electricity outages after that storm. BPU said its crews responded to a total of 30 downed lines and had crews working for nearly 32 hours in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm. They received a total of 553 calls the day of the 15th, including three regarding the downed line at Rosedale Park. The first call from the park about the downed line came in at 4:07 p.m on the 15th. Moeder was killed at about 3 a.m. on the 16th.
The release indicated that a crew responded to repair a downed line at 3:29 a.m. on the 16th, the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s office previously said it responded to the electrocution at 3:22 a.m. At an earlier press conference, Bill Johnson with BPU said that the line could have been turned off remotely.
“It is very unfortunate that we did not respond in a time frame that could have possibly prevented this strategy,” David Mehlaff wrote in the release.
He indicated that policies and procedures are being reviewed to ensure they are in accordance with standards held by the American Public Power Association and national Electric Safety Code.
