CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac presented a report on the death of Seven Hills student Kyle Plush in the school parking lot. Kyle's father and aunt were at Cincinnati City Council to hear the report and asked their own questions.
Chief Isaac began by offering his condolences to the Plush family.
Next, he presented the video from a nearby surveillance camera. Kyle can be seen walking to the minivan at 3:05 p.m. on April 10. At 3:14 p.m., Kyle called 911 for the first time. The call taker said the quality was muffled but she heard Seven Hills. She determined the caller could not hear her and seemed to be far away from the phone. After nearly three minutes, the phone disconnected on Kyle's end.
That call taker asked two others to listen to the call to try to get more information. She thought plush was an elderly female who said, help me I'm going to die at Seven Hills. She dispatched two officers to the school.
During Kyle's second call to 911, the call taker tried to ask questions. When she didn't get any response, she activated the TTY system for the hearing impaired. However, that reduced the volume from the caller to protect the call taker from tones associated with TTY devices. The call taker said her CAD system was periodically frozen.
Chief Eliot's report said the call taker was at a backup site on Evans Street. That may have impacted how the system was impacted.
Chief Eliot addressed the two officers who investigated the call. While they spent 14 minutes at the school, they only had their body-worn cameras activated for three minutes. Chief Eliot said they did violate procedure by doing so. To answer criticism about the officers not getting out of their vehicle, Chief Eliot said they felt they could cover the multiple parking lots better. A Hamilton County deputy also said he searched the school. He also called the Seven Hills administrator to see if anyone was missing.
Kyle's aunt Jody Schwind said she doesn't understand about the confusion who was calling. Both call takers, a Cincinnati police officer and the deputy all called Kyle's phone after his 911 calls. It wasn't a generic voice mail. It was Kyle's voice saying, "this is kyle, I'm not available, leave me a message."
Kyle's father Ron Plush asked why it was designated unknown trouble, when his son said he was dying in a van. He said the banging and other noises should have added to the immediacy of the call. However, Chief Eliot said the call taker didn't hear that because the automated 911 recording covered it up. It could be heard on the recording.
Ron Plush said his many questions about the investigation were not intended to berate anyone. He just wants to fully understand what led to his son's death. He also said any personal conflicts need to be set aside. "I personally will not stand for it. I owe that to Kyle."
