911 calls from alligator attack at Disney released
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Orange County Sheriff’s officers searched the Seven Seas Lagoon between Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park, left, and the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on June 15 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., after a toddler was dragged into the lake by an alligator.
ORLANDO, Fla. » Two 911 calls made when an alligator attacked a 2-year-old boy at Walt Disney World have been released by authorities.
Both apparently came from people who worked at the resort, including one who initially reported someone had drowned in the Seven Seas Lagoon.
An alligator dragged Lane into the manmade lake as he played on the shoreline at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on Tuesday night. His body was found Wednesday. The medical examiner’s office listed the cause of death as drowning and “traumatic injury.”
The first call came from a lifeguard at the hotel pool about 30 yards away from Seven Seas Lagoon. No voice can be heard because the call came from a “drop phone.” Lifeguard stands are equipped with the phones, which the rescuers pick up and drop on their way out to the water. “When we hear an open line, we know to dispatch based on that call,” said Bo Jones, assistant chief at the Reedy Creek fire-rescue department.
The second call, about four minutes long, came from a woman at the resort. Authorities say they believe she works there.
“Come to the Grand Floridian, please,” she says. “Someone drowned in the Seven Seas Lagoon lake.”
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“At the pool?” a dispatcher asks.
“No. Lake.”
“You said they drowned there?”
“I just stay in the pool. Please come to the Grand Floridian.”
A dispatcher instructed her to get closer and call from her cellphone so she could tell authorities more.
“We have no information. Can you see them right now?” a dispatcher told the woman.
The woman who called spoke broken English. Jones said there was “the difficulty of those having a little bit of language barrier there,” but “we were already being dispatched and on our way at that point.” Jones said it took responders less than four minutes to arrive.
No other 911 calls came in from the incident, Jones said.
Local news from Nebraska, where Lane’s family lives, is reporting there will be a funeral Tuesday.
Florida’s fish and wildlife agency is continuing its investigation.
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©2016 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)
