On Sept. 6, 2022, Cleveland detectives knocked on the door of James Sidelka's Old Brooklyn home. They were there to tell Sidelka that his daughter, Carly Capek, had been killed in the Cleveland house where she was living.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e sitting here, watching TV, doing whatever you're doing and all of a sudden you get a knock at your door and people throw stuff like this at you? Can you comprehend stuff like that, right away?鈥� Sidelka said.
The detectives didn鈥檛 tell him much about what happened. He and his wife Pam would later piece together a timeline - from people who lived near the house at West 78th and Lorain, from news reports and from the internal affairs report.
The internal affairs investigation considered the question of .
The 911 calls
According to the department鈥檚 investigation, at 12:32 p.m. on September 6, a neighbor called 911.
鈥淚 need police and ambulance, there鈥檚 a guy choking a girl in her house, and he鈥檚 killing her right now,鈥� the caller, Katherine Burnheimer, told the call taker.
Later in that same call, Burnheimer would grow increasingly desperate for assistance.
鈥淥h my God, I hope she鈥檚 not dead,鈥� Burnheimer said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 yelling. She鈥檚 screaming. Oh my God.鈥�
When a call is made to 911, the call taker enters basic information into a computer aided dispatch, or CAD, system. A police dispatcher uses the information to send a patrol car to the scene. During the attack on Carly Capek, the urgency was lost in the process.
The initial 911 call taker, Deater Martin, would later tell investigators from Cleveland's Internal Affairs Unit that she wasn鈥檛 sure why she didn鈥檛 put comments like 鈥淚 hope she鈥檚 not dead鈥� into the CAD system.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 recall why I didn鈥檛 or if I heard those things entirely, and I can鈥檛 recall from my review afterwards if I鈥檓 honest,鈥� Martin said.
Three minutes after that call started, a dispatcher would try to send the nearest patrol car. The dispatcher didn鈥檛 share any information about screaming or a woman being killed. The sergeant on duty, Martin Lentz, responded by asking for details.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 your code 1?鈥� Lentz asked.
鈥淢ale choking a female,鈥� the dispatcher responded.
Lentz said the first car was on a 鈥渄istrict assignment鈥� and unavailable.
According to the internal affairs report, that 鈥渄istrict assignment鈥� was an officer waiting for the gas company to arrive at his house.
During his interview with Internal Affairs, Lentz contradicted what he鈥檚 heard saying to the dispatcher.
鈥淚 heard the dispatcher go out for A11 [the car on district assignment] for a priority two,鈥� Lentz said in his interview.
鈥淎nd did A11 respond?鈥� the interviewer asked.
鈥淚 intercepted and notified them that A11 was detailed,鈥� Lentz said.
The dispatcher then moves on to the next patrol car, which is available and begins to respond from District 2 Headquarters.
That鈥檚 four minutes after the first 911 call came in.
By 12:38 p.m., six minutes after the first 911 call, a third 911 call came in, this one also from Katherine Burnheimer, asking where police are.
鈥淗e was beating her up in there, strangling her, one of the girls ran out and she was screaming,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 heard a bunch of glass breaking in there and she was screaming.鈥�
At 12:46 p.m., 12 minutes after the first 911 call and ten minutes after being dispatched, officers pulled up to the house. It's five minutes after EMS arrived and four minutes after a fire truck arrived at the scene. EMS and firefighters both had to wait outside until police arrived.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got another car in the area?鈥� the responding officer asked as he approached the house. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just not sure what鈥檚 going on here.鈥�
The responding officers drove to the scene in heavy traffic without using lights or sirens. In the internal affairs interview, the officer said the call came to him categorized as 鈥淪cream鈥� and a priority 2 call, less urgent than what it actually was.
鈥淗e stated that it was the middle of the day and that traffic was heavy,鈥� the author of the Internal Affairs report wrote. 鈥淗e explained that the reason he did not respond using lights and sirens was that he鈥檚 responded to numerous 鈥淪cream鈥� (CAD incident type) calls in the past and that from prior experience it鈥檚 usually 鈥榥ot super urgent to get there.鈥欌��
The officers found Capek鈥檚 alleged killer sitting naked on the couch inside and Capek dead in a bedroom.
Internal Affairs determined that police arrived at the house in close to a regular amount of time 鈥� about ten minutes after being dispatched. The average in a situation like this, it said, is almost ten minutes.
Investigators did fault four 911 call takers for not taking down enough information.
The report鈥檚 author also recommended the city adopt a system that lets responding officers listen to the original 911 call on the way to the scene.
In an emailed response, a city spokesperson pointed out the police response time was not delayed and said when it came to the dispatch issues that there is always room for improvement and the city continues to consider options to improve police service.
911 communication breakdown? Not the first time
The failure to relay key information from a 911 call is not a new issue.
After 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by Cleveland Police in 2014 while playing with a toy gun, an internal investigation found the 911 call taker failed to relay to dispatch the original caller鈥檚 comment that Rice might be a juvenile and the gun might be fake.
Nine months after Katherine Burnheimer's 911 call, the Sidelka鈥檚 remain angry at the city, angry at the police department and left with the unshakeable feeling that more could have been done to save their daughter's life.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 accept these excuses,鈥� said Capek's stepmother Pam Sidelka. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 want my daughter鈥檚 death be in vain. You know, it happened, but I felt there was not respect for her.鈥�
鈥淚 don't even like my own life right now because I've got to live with this,鈥� James Sidelka said. 鈥淓very day of my life until the end of it. I don't want to carry on with this. I need some kind of sympathy, some help, anything to help put me back on my feet.鈥�
