On Friday, September 1, 2023 in Scottsdale, Arizona, at approximately 0238 hours, Communications Supervisor Derrik Gregg received a 9-1-1 call that disconnected shortly after he answered.
Derrik was able to see on RapidDeploy* that the caller was on Hayden Road near McCormick Parkway. A few seconds later, RapidDeploy updated the caller’s location on Hayden Road, north of the original location. Derrik entered a CFS for a 9-1-1 welfare check for a vehicle possibly traveling between McCormick Parkway and Via De Ventura on Hayden Road.
Another dispatcher immediately aired the information, and Derrik attempted to contact the caller. At the same time, Derrik selected “request additional information,” a feature request that signifies that the 9-1-1 center feels there is a potential emergency and will send the requestor any emergency information put into a smartphone by the caller. This returned the phone owner’s name, parent’s contact information and her home address.
On Derrik’s second call to the phone, a female answered and immediately stated that she would call him back. Derrik attempted to get information from her and asked her if she had an emergency, to which she replied, “Yes,” and then announced again that she would call back and hung up the phone. Using the supplemental information from the caller’s phone, Derrik ran a query to find vehicles registered to a person with the caller’s name. At this time, an officer working with a trainee stopped a vehicle traveling northbound on Hayden. Derrik quickly relayed the vehicle information he received through his query and confirmed that the license plate matched the vehicle pulled over.
Officers approached the vehicle and determined that the female passenger of the vehicle needed medical attention. Investigation revealed that the male driver had run over the female passenger prior to leaving with her in the vehicle from a bar in Scottsdale. The female had been unable to speak freely because she was afraid of the driver.
This call came to a successful ending due to the quick actions of Supervisor Derrik Gregg. Derrik took the call and recognized the possibility that the caller had an emergency but was unable to verbalize it due to a dangerous situation.
He used Rapid Deploy and noticed movement northbound in the few seconds the caller was on the line. The technology showed the direction of travel and returned emergency contact information for the caller. This gave him enough information to start the call for service while he attempted to contact the caller. Derrik then took the initiative to query the phone owner’s vehicles and was able to identify the car that the caller was in. Officers stopped the vehicle and saw scrapes on the female’s knees, prompting a more thorough investigation in which it was determined that she had broken fingernails, bloody hands, and cuts, and had been run over by the driver. Derrik’s nominator said they believed it likely that the actions taken by Scottsdale Communications and Patrol saved this young woman’s life that night.
Thank you, Derrik, for your dedication to your profession and to your callers. Join us in recognizing Supervisor Gregg as a Teammate in Action.
