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8 police cars blew out tires during rescue operations
»DPS chief recalls frustration in trying to rescue cop’s wife
At least eight police cars had blown out tires at the height of Typhoon Soudelor, with officers trying to respond to 911 calls and offering assistance, according to Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero.
Asked by Saipan Tribune about some people’s concerns about police not responding to 911 calls in the middle of typhoon, Deleon Guerrero said many police officers were really frustrated because they could not get to the victims to rescue them.
Deleon Guerrero said the roads were choked with a lot of debris and fallen trees that prevented officers from reaching people’s homes.
“We cannot reach their house. Roads were littered with debris at that time,” he said. “I wish we could share what was going on in terms of the [911] recordings that came in.”
The commissioner disclosed that a police officer’s spouse actually was screaming and begging on the phone for the police to rescue her and their minor children at their house in As Perdido.
“We were trying our very best to get to them. We were using machetes, axes, whatever we can to get into her and we just couldn’t,” Deleon Guerrero said.
At some point during the storm, he recalled, the rescuers could no longer go out because it was just too dangerous.
“There were flying roofing tins on the roads. There were metal objects that were flying and hitting our cars,” he said.
The commissioner said they weren’t able to rescue the spouse and her children until after the storm.
He said they just advised her to seek shelter wherever their closest family members or neighbors are.
Deleon Guerrero said the spouse and her children ran to the neighbor’s house for safety.
During typhoon, it’s too dangerous to go on the roads, which are inaccessible not only to police officers but everybody else, even firefighters and medics, he added.
