Stop whining, teen told as dad lay dying

An emergency services dispatcher twice told an emotional 13-year-old girl to "stop whining" as her father lay dying after a hit-and-run, according to a recording of the call obtained Thursday.

The dispatcher has been reassigned to a position away from the public pending an investigation, said Capt. Russ Davies, a spokesman for the fire department.

The dispatcher, whose name Davies declined to release, could return to answering emergency calls but could also face termination, depending on the investigation, which will including looking at any past problems, he said.

The call came in Sunday after a car hit Rick Warrick, 38, and his fiancee as they changed a tire on a highway about halfway between Washington and Baltimore. The driver of the car that hit the couple fled. No arrests have been made, and police say they have no description of the car.

Warrick was killed. His fiancee, Julia Pearce, 28, was seriously injured but was in fair condition on Thursday.

Warrick's 13-year-old daughter was in the back seat with her younger brother, and called emergency services.

During the five-minute call, the dispatcher asks the teen for more details about her location and about what happened. The teen answers many of his questions but struggles at times to remain calm.

At one point, the dispatcher interrupts her.

"OK, let's stop whining. Let's stop whining, it's hard to understand you," he says.

The dispatcher sounds frustrated when the girl asks him to send help quickly. At one point he asks if there's someone else he can talk to.

The dispatcher also questions the girl repeatedly about why her father is lying on top of his fiancee, to which she tearfully responds that it's just how he landed. She tells him that her father was breathing but not conscious.

Davies told The Associated Press that the dispatcher should have handled the call differently. Instead of telling her to "stop whining," he said the dispatcher could have asked the girl to try to calm down and reassured her that help was on the way.

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