'This Will Teach You Next Time,' 911 Dispatcher Told Arkansas Woman Who Later Drowned

It was still dark out in Fort Smith, Arkansas, as Debbie Stevens tended to her newspaper delivery route as she had for more than 20 years.

That’s when her gray Mazda SUV was swept up by quickly rising floodwaters from heavy rainfall. She first called her mother-in-law, who was also driving a paper route, but hung up and called 911 at 4:38 a.m. Central time, as the water rose to her car window. Stevens, 47, spent the next 22 minutes on the phone with an emergency dispatcher frantically pleading for help and saying that she could not swim.

The dispatcher, Donna Reneau, repeatedly told a sobbing Stevens to calm down. “This will teach you next time, don’t drive in the water,” she said, according to a recording of the call that was released by the police. “You put yourself in danger,” she added.

Stevens drowned in her vehicle on Aug. 24 before emergency responders reached her, according to a police statement. Audio from the 911 call captured her last moments, and at times Reneau seemed frustrated and dismissive of Stevens’ panic.

Reneau did not respond to phone calls or emails requesting comment Sunday.

Danny Baker, the interim chief of the Fort Smith Police Department, said during a news conference Thursday that Reneau, a certified dispatch training officer, had been with the department for five years but had handed in her resignation Aug. 9. Stevens’ call was taken during her last shift, he said.

The police statement called the operator’s words “calloused and uncaring at times,” but said “sincere efforts were being made to locate and save Mrs. Stevens.”

Minutes after Stevens called, the Fire Department and a police unit were dispatched to the scene. The emergency responders arrived in fewer than 10 minutes, but they could not locate Stevens’ vehicle, the statement said.

The flash flood had swept Stevens’ vehicle off the road and into a copse of trees. The water was rising around her car as she waited for rescue.

“It’s all the way up to my neck,” Stevens said to Reneau. “I’m the only one in the vehicle with all of my papers floating around me. Please help me. I don’t want to die.”

Reneau responded: “You’re not going to die. Just hold on.”

The main roadways were blocked by water. A boat was requested just before the call between Stevens and the dispatcher was disconnected, according to the police.

Moments before the call ended, Stevens started screaming that she could not breathe. “Ms. Debbie, you are breathing just fine because you are screaming at me,” Reneau responded. “I need you to calm down.”

When Stevens did not respond, Reneau said, “Oh, my God, it sounds like she’s underwater now.”

The responders located Stevens’ vehicle shortly after the call ended, but the rushing water prevented an officer, armed with a life vest and a rope, from reaching the vehicle. The rescue boat arrived nearly 15 minutes later, and it took the responders another 45 minutes to make their way to her.

Just before 6 a.m., rescuers pulled Stevens from the vehicle and tried to resuscitate her, but she had already drowned, the police statement said.

“I am heartbroken for this tragic loss of life and my prayers are with Debra’s family and friends,” Baker said in the statement.

“All of our first responders who attempted to save Stevens are distraught over the outcome,” he said. “For every one of us, saving lives is at the very core of who we are and why we do what we do. When we are unsuccessful, it hurts.”

After the episode, the Police Department started an internal investigation into response policies and dispatch center training, Baker said at the news conference. Reneau will not be investigated because she no longer works for the department, he said.

Baker told KFTA, a local television station, that no action would be taken against Reneau because she had not done anything criminally wrong.

Rebeca Stewart, Stevens’ sister-in-law, told the station that Stevens “had a heart of gold and would do anything for anyone.”