Tracy Hightower's daughter was fatally stabbed at an apartment in Detroit on Mother's Day, and the pain of that day refuses to fade because of the killing of 32-year-old Stacey Hightower and because it took a dispatcher 90 minutes to send officers to the scene.
Tracey Hightower, who recently moved from Detroit to Oak Park, would not say too much because she fears jeopardizing the case against 40-year-old Jason Peck, who is charged with first-degree murder in the case.
“It was horrific. ... It was like a punch in the gut for all of us,” Hightower told Eric D. Lawrence of the Free Press.
The officers’ late arrival at the scene was one of two issues involving Detroit police dispatchers in recent months that prompted Chief James Craig to announce a shake-up in the department’s communications unit on Wednesday.
"Both dispatcher incidents involved more than hour-long delays in sending police to violent crime scenes. The other incident was the shooting of a 38-year-old woman in the 13800 block of Bringard on Aug. 30. Police submitted a warrant request for charges against the dispatcher in the May 12 stabbing, and the case is under review by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
"Authorities said they are reviewing the case involving the dispatcher in the shooting of Jobrena Hood, and charges are possible. The woman’s mother, Betty Hood, said her daughter called 911 multiple times to try to prevent an argument from escalating, but that police did not respond until after she was shot.
