Man says police didn't respond to his calls about drunk driver

(8/29/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A Houston man is not happy with how his repeated calls to 911 were handled. He got into a fender bender with a man he says was a drunk driver.

This case comes at a time when HPD is helping crack down on drunk driving, involving themselves in a 'drink, drive, go to jail' campaign. But at least one Houstonian wonders just how seriously police are abiding by that policy.

The damage to Saul Melgar's truck is going to be expensive to fix. But that's not what he is most upset about. He says he called 911 repeatedly on the night of August 5 after the accident took place on W. 43rd at N. Shepherd in northwest Houston. No police officer ever came out to the scene. 911 call transcript:

Dispatcher: "No, we're still holding your call for the next available unit."
Melgar: "OK. How many calls are in front of me?"
Dispatcher: "Well, I don't... I don't know that, sir." Melgar says he called 911 to file a report, but also to let police know he believed he was hit by a drunk driver.

"He was falling down, staggering drunk," Melgar recalled. "He was also slurring and his vision... His eye movement was really slow."

He and the other driver, he says, for more than two hours. In all, Melgar says he made four 911 calls for help. 911 call transcript:

Dispatcher: "You're saying that one of the drivers may be intoxicated?"
Melgar: "That is correct."
Dispatcher: "OK, sir. I'll let them you know that you called again." Eventually Melgar says that he gave up on the officer, asking the 911 dispatcher if he could just file a report at a nearby police substation, which he did. He watched, then, as the other driver, who he believed was drunk, got back behind the wheel and left the scene.

Saul's wife Carolyn Melgar was disturbed by that fact.

She said, "He could have killed someone, and it appalled me that the police didn't want to come and prevent that from happening."

HPD says it does take drunk driving very seriously, but these 911 calls were considered a lower priority because no one was hurt in this accident and the man who was allegedly driving drunk was not causing any sort of disturbance. They say simply that other calls with higher priorities were handled first.

Police say they can only cover so much ground these days. They note again that they are short staffed by about 600 officers.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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