JENNINGS — The mother of the 5-year-old boy who died when a tree came crashing through his family’s home during a storm in Jennings on Saturday told elected officials it took 45 minutes to get ahold of emergency services, and her son was alive when she first started to try.
Robert “RJ†Lawrence was in his bedroom when a massive tree fell on the house, trapping him under debris. The boy’s mom, LaWanda “Nina†Thomas, said she called 911 several times and was repeatedly disconnected after being told her call would be transferred. A friend eventually drove to a police station herself to ask for help.
The delayed response is similar to an incident during the same storm in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, where delayed 911 response times have plagued the city for years. A woman also died on Saturday, after a tree fell on her car near the city’s Grove entertainment district. Onlookers said emergency response was slow to arrive.
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Thomas’ Jennings home is just two blocks outside ºüÀêÊÓƵ city limits, but it was unclear Monday if her 911 calls were routed through the city.
“I really do want to know what happened,†said Missouri Rep. Yolanda Fountain-Henderson, a Democrat who represents north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, including Jennings, and spoke on behalf of Thomas. “Why did it take so long? I understand it was a big storm. But what’s going on with 911?â€
A spokesperson for ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police said the department responded right away when it received the 911 call, and they are looking into the discrepancy.
Police said they received the call at 3:53 p.m. Saturday and the first officers arrived two minutes later.
In a text message to the Post-Dispatch, Thomas described her son as “the most loving, kind boy you could ever meet.â€
“He was the type of child that would make you be his friend just by the love he showed others,†Thomas said.
Thomas said she was in the bathroom when she heard a loud boom Saturday afternoon. When she called out to her son, she didn’t get a response. That’s when she discovered the giant tree had come crashing down on the house, pinning RJ in his bedroom.
“I heard a loud boom, then there was screaming,†neighbor Manuel Garza told the Post-Dispatch. Garza has lived in the home next to Thomas for 46 years.
Thomas said she continued to call 911 while trying to unpin her son, whose legs dangled in the air as he remained trapped.
“Mom saw him take his last breath,†Fountain-Henderson said. “She kept saying, ‘RJ, I’m with you.’ … She told her friends, ‘Oh my God, he’s turning purple. Oh my God, he’s turning blue.’ You know, and then after that, he went lifeless.â€
Fountain-Henderson said she planned to speak with ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Executive Sam Page later Monday to discuss what went wrong with the emergency response.
A fundraising for Thomas and her 3-year-old child was set up by Fountain-Henderson and Jennings Councilwoman Nadia Quinn. Donations, which will be used for emergency shelter, food, clothing, and RJ’s burial costs, had raised almost $11,000 by Monday evening.
According to the page, RJ would have turned 6 later this month.
Editor's note: This story updates the location of the woman who died on Saturday after a tree fell on her car.