A motorist in DeKalb County, Georgia witnessed a woman getting carjacked and called 911, but instead of getting help, he says the 911 operator debated him about what to call the crime. As reported by WAGA Fox 5 News, Willie Hubbard saw the woman getting thrown to the ground by a man. Hubbard told the station, “I’m thinking that could’ve been my momma, my grandmother, that could have been my sister, anybody.” So he called 911 and reported the crime, hoping to get the woman some help from the authorities.

Willie Hubbard (WAGA)

Hubbard explained what transpired on his call with the 911 operator:

911 operator: ‘Sir could you tell me what happened.’

Hubbard: ‘He just snatched her out of the car and took her car. She just got carjacked.’

911 operator: ‘Well sir, that’s not a carjacking, that’s a theft.’

Hubbard: ‘Ma’am, that’s not a theft.’

911 operator: ‘Well did he have a gun?’

Hubbard: ‘No he didn’t have a gun, but he just snatched her and threw her to the ground, and stole her car.’

The Good Samaritan said that as he saw the woman on the ground screaming, the 911 operator kept debating the terms that he used to describe the crime. “Then she proceeded to say, ‘Well we’ll send a unit,’ Hubbard told WAGA. “So we sat there approximately 38 minutes before the first officer even came. And then when the sergeant came she was explaining to us that it was called to them as a theft not a robbery. And I was like, ‘That’s crazy.’”

James Conroy, interim DeKalb Police Chief (WAGA)

James Conroy, interim DeKalb Police Chief, said, “Looking at the call information, it does appear there was a delayed response of somewhere over 30 minutes, which in my opinion is not acceptable in a carjacking case.” He promised to look further into the matter.

The problem is something that Hubbard feels has got to be fixed saying, “The dispatcher was arguing with me about a call that I made about a concern, as a concerned citizen. I was just upset about it. Something needs to be done because if it happened to me it can happen to anybody.”

Video and more info: WAGA