BARTLETT, Tenn. — A 911 call obtained by WREG shows police did not listen to any location details or description when responding to a home for a possible domestic violence situation. They ended up at the wrong home on Hollister Cove in June.
WREG played the 911 call recording for Tawanda Cason, now four months removed from the original incident.
“I looked out my window and I think his wife is standing on the front porch with a rifle,” said the caller, identified as a neighbor named Richard. “I don’t know if they saw a deer out there or something”
In the call, the neighbor says he saw a woman with a rifle yelling at a man outside. Then, he gives directions and a description.
Dispatcher: “If I’m looking out your front door, it’s going to be immediately to the left. Correct?” Caller: “Yes.”One burgundy car in the driveway. Yeah, one white car, one red car.”
Dispatcher: “Can you tell me if they’re white, black, Hispanic or Asian?” Caller: “They’re white.”
Except, police then ended up at a home that didn’t match those details; Cason lives across the cove, has two black cars and is not white.
“It just made me upset all over again,” Cason said after hearing the 911 call recording.
What’s more, she said police didn’t speak with her when she got there. Instead, around a dozen officers surrounded her home, brought her out on the porch, got her kids out of bed and then handcuffed her. They then sent search dogs inside her home.
“My heart was pumping really fast. I didn’t know what was going on. I kept asking but no one would tell me anything. It was a very scary night,” Cason said.
She said police let her go after about 15 minutes and most of the cops left.
But she did see one officer walk up to the home originally described in the original call. The woman who lives there said she was neither detained, nor questioned.
She said she was waving the gun because she was trying to shoot two raccoons attacking her dog. It’s unclear when she told police what really happened.
“It’s very concerning. She should’ve been cuffed. The phone call was made on her,” Cason said. “They may not have because she looks different.”
Now, she and her children, ages five and nine, are traumatized.
“They thought police officers were good but after that night they don’t think that anymore,” she said.
She also said she hasn’t heard from anyone at Bartlett Police since the night it happened.
Bartlett Police said they have no comment on what happened, Cason’s concerns or whether they’ve changed protocol since the incident.
Cason said she has not taken any legal action against the department, but is considering it after hearing the 911 call.
