Eagle Rock Teacher Reports Being Put on Hold for 9 Minutes After Calling 911 About Woman in Distress

English teacher Stephan Early said he was walking his dog Nana at around 10 a.m. Wednesday on the south side of Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock when he noticed a middle-aged woman lying on the sidewalk across the street

Early told Eagle Rock Patch that he called 911 from his mobile phone to report about the woman, who was lying on the sidewalk in front of Psychic Laura Revelations, a fortune-teller’s store on 1515 Colorado Blvd., between Dahlia Drive and Loleta Avenue. But it took a responder longer than nine minutes to answer his call, according to Early.

“I couldn’t even talk to anyone for nine and a half minutes,” said Early, adding that he was able to tell from the call data on his mobile phone exactly how long it took for his call to be answered. “In the meantime, somebody else must have called because I was still on hold when an ambulance pulled up."

Early suggested that an employee of Trader Joe’s on Colorado Boulevard might have called authorities because he saw some people from Trader Joe’s dressed in the grocery chain’s familiar floral shirt who had seen the woman lying down.

“I was already home [on Loleta Avenue] before they [911] picked up,” Early said.

The woman was possibly homeless because her belongings, including a bag pack, were lying nearby, Early said.

Eagle Rock Patch called Trader Joe’s, and an employee there who answered the phone confirmed that one of his coworkers did call 911 to report about the woman.

“One of our workers walked out and found out what was happening,” said the Trader Joe’s employee, who identified himself only as Joe (the similarity to the grocery chain’s name is coincidental). “He came into the store and dialed 911.”

Joe added that his coworker saw the woman “reaching up but wasn’t sure if she needed help.”

Early, alongtime Eagle Rock resident and immediate past president of the , told Eagle Rock Patch that he heard the woman call out for help to get up, but that he was reluctant to give her a hand for fear that she might be injured and that moving her in any way would further complicate any possible injuries.

“I waited, and then I heard the sirens,” said Early. "I waved at the ambulance and went home."