The audio has emerged of the moment a 16-year-old boy realized he was facing death, asking a 911 operator to tell his mother that he loves her. Kyle Plush spoke to emergency services twice to try and get help after his folding seat flipped and trapped him upside down.
He had been leaning over the back seat to try and grab his tennis gear when tragedy struck. However, his body wasn’t found for another six hours when his dad went out looking for him. In his final call he tells the operator ‘tell my mom I love her if I die’. .
He also tells the dispatcher ‘this is not a joke’ and ‘I’m almost dead’ as he grows increasingly desperate. Police were unable to find him despite being told he was in a parking lot and the colour and make of the car he was trapped inside.
The 911 dispatcher has been put on leave while an investigation takes place. Police Chief Eliot Isaac said that something had gone ‘terribly wrong’. A coroner ruled Kyle died of asphyxia, from his chest being compressed. He was unable to hear the dispatcher’s questions, police said, and a callback to his cellphone after it disconnected went to voicemail.
Responding police drove through the area looking for signs of anyone in distress but saw nothing out of the ordinary in the school complex, which has several parking areas.
Plush called 911 again at around 3.35pm. Police said this time he provided a description of the vehicle as he desperately pleaded for help but still couldn’t hear the dispatcher. Police said a friend called the boy’s parents that evening saying he hadn’t shown up as planned for a tennis match. His mother used an app to locate his phone at Seven Hills. They called the county dispatch center, and police said family members then arrived at the unlocked vehicle with the unresponsive teen inside. Police and fire responders were unable to revive him.