CHP: NO RECORD OF 911 CELL CALL WOMAN TRIED TO GET HELP AT CRASH SITE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The California Highway Patrol's communications center for Los Angeles County showed no record of a cell phone 911 call from a good Samaritan who said she spent 14 minutes on hold trying to report a fatal crash, the commander said.

A check of Los Angeles CHP Communications Center electronic records show the first report of Sunday's estimated 2:20 p.m. crash came in from a man on a cell phone at 2:34 p.m. and the caller was connected to an operator in 23 seconds, CHP Capt. Susan Coutts said.

``We are doing everything in our powers to maximize our staff here to answer the calls as quickly as possible,'' Coutts said.

Lancaster resident Patti Rankin said Monday that she was among the first passers-by to arrive at the crash at Avenue E and 90th Street East that killed a 66-year-old Lancaster woman and injured her two teen granddaughters.

Rankin said she called 911 at 2:13 p.m., according to her phone clock, and was immediately answered by a recording that told her all operators were busy and to stay on the line.

Because Rankin placed her call from a sparsely populated area close to the Los Angeles CHP center's jurisdiction boundary, Coutts said, it is possible the call ``skipped'' to a CHP dispatch center elsewhere in the state. The crash was four miles from the border with Kern County, which is handled by a different communications center.

After 14 minutes on hold, and an unsuccessful attempt to telephone an ambulance company, she called her ex-husband, a CHP officer in the Fresno area, to ask him to call someone. Meanwhile, another motorist drove off to find a phone.

The first emergency personnel showed up five or 10 minutes later, she said.

The Los Angeles center received 889 cell phone 911 calls between 2 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Coutts said. She added that when CHP dispatchers notified the Los Angeles County Fire Department a minute later of the crash, fire units were already on the way after someone else had alerted the fire department.

The 911 system is impacted by prank calls and calls placed by mistake.

On Tuesday morning, someone placed a 911 call from the crash location and said ``help.'' When a dispatcher called the number back, voice mail answered. Coutts believes the call was someone testing the signal there after reading about Rankin's charge.

The call was a crime, she added.

Coutts said one problem is that many older cell phones have a feature that automatically calls 911 if the 9 button is pressed and held down. The cell phone user must progam the phone to disable that automatic call feature.

In newer phones, made in the last year or so, the automatic 911 button must be specifically enabled, she said.