The Collin County Observer

DMN - Parents of Murphy toddler who died after getting tangled in net criticize police, fire response

Monday, November 17, 2008
The Dallas Morning News / WFAA-TV

The parents of a Murphy toddler who died after getting tangled in a backyard soccer net last year say police and fire officials should have moved faster to save his life.

In October 2007, Matthew Cantrell wandered outside and strangled himself in the net after his mother fell asleep. He died at a hospital days later.

In their first television interview since the 21-month-old died, his parents criticized 911 dispatchers for taking more than two minutes to transfer Ave Cantrell's call to an emergency medical technician.

On a recording of the 911 call, Ms. Cantrell repeatedly asks the dispatcher for instructions on how to help her child but gets no response.

"I could do CPR or something," she says. "Please tell me what I need to do."

Murphy police defended their response and said dispatchers are not supposed to give medical advice.

Once police did arrive, Ms. Cantrell said they put her and her other son in a bedroom while Matthew lay on a couch not breathing.

"I should have kicked the police officer out of the way to see if he was doing CPR on him," Ms. Cantrell said. "I figured they were doing something, but then we found out they didn't do anything."

Officer Kevin McGee left the boy there to meet the paramedics and initially blocked them from entering the home, which he said was a "crime scene," according to documents obtained by WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

"I advised him we needed to assess the child," a paramedic said in a written statement. "He responded, 'He is gone.' I told him the paramedics were the ones that would determine if he was alive."

Fire officials also defended their handling of the case.

"If there was something done wrong," Chief Mark Lee said, "we would deal with that."

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Bill comments:

I watched the Channel 8 story on this tragedy on the 10 O'clock news.

This DMN article is telling only half the story. As soon as WFAA releases the video of the newscast, I'll post it here.

What's unsaid in the DMN article?

• That 911 waited 2 1/2 minutes before dispatching paramedics.
• That after the 911 dispatcher hung up, he was complaining about the mother of the baby who called.
• That the fire chief asked for written statements from all the responders, but now claims he never read them - that he still hasn't read them.
• That the police officer who blocked the paramedics from treating the baby is under investigation for unnecessary force in an unrelated incident.
• That while the police officer told the paramedics the baby was "gone", and did not attempt resuscitation - even so the baby was alive and lived 3 more days.
• That this case has all the hallmarks of a classic government cover-up.

The tale I've heard from some who know some of the participants is that when Officer McGee arrived at the Cantrell house and saw the strangled child, instead of rendering aid, he called then Police Chief Billy Myrick for instructions.

Myrick told him to "secure the scene".

It's been a year now since this sad episode, and city of Murphy officials are still not coming clean with the whole story. They insist their employees "did a great job".

Yea, "Way to go, Brownie"

Bill

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Update - Here is the WFAA video report

http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=304632&she=1

Here is the WFAA printed report:

WFAA - Outrage follows strangling death of Murphy boy

Monday, November 17, 2008
By SHELLY SLATER / WFAA-TV

MURPHY - The parents of a boy accidentally strangled while entangled in a soccer net are speaking out about their frustrations with the city of Murphy.

Michael and Ave Cantrell said their aggravation at the city stems from a frustrating 911 call to the treatment and lack of help given by the Murphy Police Department.

The tragedy began on an October day in 2007, which was when Mrs. Cantrell said she dozed off while watching cartoons with her two boys. As she napped, one-year-old Matthew Cantrell somehow managed to wander outside of the family's baby-proofed home. At some point, he hung himself after he became stuck in a soccer net in the backyard.

"I was trying to get his head back through the soccer net and it wouldn't go back through," Mrs. Cantrell said of when she discovered Matthew.

Mrs. Cantrell called 911.

"I could do CPR or something," she told the operator. "Please, tell me what I need to do."

Eight time Mrs. Cantrell asked the operator to tell her what to do, which the dispatcher responded by either sitting in silence or saying the words, 'Calm down.'"

At the time of the accident, Cantrell said she was halfway through a CPR training course.

It took the operator two-and-a-half minutes to transfer the call to an EMT. Once the transfer went through, Cantrell was once again asked basic questions, such as "What is the phone number there?"

"They never say a word," said Michael Cantrell, Matthew's father. "They never say, 'Make sure you have an open airway.'"

Murphy Police Chief G.M. Cox said dispatchers don't give medical advice.

"There is Good Samaritan laws out there that tell you if you don't have the training and you don't give it you're really not liable," Cox said.

Instead, dispatchers are told to immediately send the call to an EMT. But once the call had been transferred to the EMT, Cantrell said she was never told what to do.

"She wasn't going to listen," the dispatchers could be heard telling one another after the call ended. "I've tried to get her to calm down. She won't listen."

Once police arrived at the scene, Cantrell said she and her son were placed in a bedroom that was guarded by an officer.

"Apparently he thinks he's got the next Andrea Yates or something," she said.

As they sat in the another room, her son was on the couch not breathing.

Officer Kevin McGee, who was involved in the controversial Murphy sex stings and has a federal lawsuit against him for excessive force against a minor, was in charge at the scene.

"I should have kicked the police officer out of the way to see if he was doing CPR on him," Cantrell said. "I figured they were doing something, but then we found out they didn't do anything."

Documents obtained by News 8 show officer McGee left Matthew on the couch to meet the paramedics.

"One of the last images Matthew may have ever seen was - laying on the couch here - would have been to see a police officer stand up, turn his back and walk away," Mr. Cantrell said.

But that wasn't the end. One paramedic wrote of obstacles he met with at the scene in a report.

"Before I could make entry in the house a Murphy police officer stepped in front of me with his arms spread apart," the paramedic wrote. "The officer informed me this was a crime scene. I advised him we needed to assess the child. He responded, 'He is gone.' I told him the paramedics were the ones that would determine if he was alive."

It turned out Matthew was alive and lived three more days. Doctors got a heart beat that night.

Murphy's new fire chief was an assistant at the time and asked crew members to fill out voluntary statements. However, he never read the statements.

"That night I was talking with the guys," he said. "I wasn't really concerned with what they had written."

However, he did admit later on concerns were expressed that night.

"We told them then we would look into it if there was something done wrong," he said. "We would deal with that."

And yet, a year later, he said he still hasn't read the statements.

"Our people did a great job," he maintains.

Meanwhile, the Cantrells said their tragedy was only worsened by the city's actions that night. Police took Mrs. Cantrell to the police department for questioning and Mr. Cantrell said he fought to get into his own home for answers.

"I just got on my knees in my front yard and put my head on the step and started praying," Mr. Cantrell said.

Three days after Matthew was found entangled in the net, doctors deemed him brain dead. The Cantrells donated his organs, which saved seven lives.

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