The Georgia Bureau of Investigation released the 911 tapes in a case where a Stockbridge man was shot by police who were dispatched to the wrong address. The 25 minutes of 911 tapes include the initial call of a disturbance and ends with the frantic plea for help from the wife of the victim as he lay mortally wounded in his driveway. The 911 text has been edited for space.
The first tape deals with the initial call of a disturbance.
911: Henry County 911. What is the location of your emergency?
Caller: I live in Stockbridge. A few houses down all we can hear is screaming and gunshots. She’s screaming ‘help me please! My mom’s dead.’ and we’ve had to call before because they were fighting so bad.
911: How many gunshots did you hear?
Caller: Three shots.
911: Have you heard more screaming after that?
Caller: Not since she screamed ‘Please help. My mom’s dead.’ It’s the third house down.
911: What’s the nearest intersecting street?
Caller: Fairview Road and it would be on the right-hand side going toward Fairview, like the second or third house past us going towards Fairview.
The 911 operator calls back for more information on behalf of the officers who’ve been dispatched.
911: And you believe it is the right south of you going towards (unintelligible).
Caller: It is. Yes. Definitely.
911: I see where one of the houses down there has a long driveway. Was it as far back as your backyard?
Caller: Yeah and that’s why I said it’s possible it is that driveway that goes back off the road.
(The Powell home is situated off a long dirt driveway. )
911: O.K. O.K
Caller: And we have not heard another noise since the last thing was said. She was screaming ‘help me, help me!” and we heard a gunshot and nothing else.
911: O.K. All right. They're at the house at 3 uh 690 checking it out…
Later, 911 takes a frantic call from Sharon Powell, the wife of the victim in the wrong-house shooting.
Powell: Someone shot my husband through the driveway and they tried to break into my house. Please hurry!
911: M’am. M’am we have the police on scene already. Who shot your husband?
Powell: I don’t know. The dogs started barking. We were asleep.My husband grabbed his gun and went outside and the guy shot him. My husband’s on the ground and the guy’s got a light on the place in my house.
911 M’am. O.K.
Powell: Huh?
911: O.K. The officers are outside.
Powell: The outside? They’re the ones who shot my husband?
PAUSE
911: O.K. sir… uh, m’am. Listen to me.
Powell: O.K. I’m listening.
911: All right. We have an ambulance on the way. o.k.?
Powell: O.K.
911: There’s an ambulance on the way. Do you have any weapons?
Powell: I don’t have nothing.
911: O.K. stay in the house. We’ll have an officer to meet with you.
Powell: How will I know if it’s him or that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) my husband’s in the driveway shot.
911: M’am, stay inside, o.k?
Powell: Yes m’am.
LONG PAUSE
Powell: Can you tell me why the police were out here to begin with?
911: We’d gotten a call from a neighbor and they were checking the area, ma’m.
Powell:Do you know how much longer it will be before I can go check on my husband?
“Please don’t let him be dead! It don’t look like my husband’s breathing…”
Those are the chilling words of Sharon Powell as she waited frantically for an ambulance to arrive at her rural Stockbridge home. Outside, her husband lay in the driveway critically wounded by gunshots from what she thought was an intruder.
Powell would later learn that a Henry County police officer turned out to be her husband's killer. William David Powell was shot last month by Henry police who were dispatched to the wrong home after getting a call on a domestic disturbance. Powell died a couple of days later after being on life support at Atlanta Medical Center.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is still investigating the case, released the 911 tapes this week in connection with the June 7 shooting of the 63-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran.
Fearing he and his wife were in danger after noticing a shadowy figure outside their bedroom window late that Tuesday night, Powell grabbed his gun and went outside where he encountered the police.
GBI spokesman Scott Dutton declined to discuss details in the case Friday, saying “We defer to the DA’s office for that once they have the case.”
But the 911 tapes, totaling nearly 25 minutes, offer a glimpse of what happened that night. What started out as a routine call to 911 about a disturbance spiraled into the deadly encounter between Henry County police and Powell who had just turned in for the night.
An unknown caller reported hearing a woman screaming ‘help me, please my mom’s dead’ and gunshots. Even after going over the location of the alleged disturbance with the caller several times, police officers were mistakeningly dispatched to 690 Swan Lake Road where the Powells were asleep.
Henry Police Capt. Joey Smith said “officers and detectives canvassed all of the homes in that general area,” in regards to the initial 911 call about a disturbance.
Police later interviewed people at the house believed to be where the dispute occurred. The woman at home said there had been an argument earlier in the day but there were no gunshots and police made no arrests, Smith said.
“We were not able to determine if there was any substance to the dispute,” Smith said.
Sgt. Patrick Snook, the officer involved in the Powell shooting, was placed on administrative leave for two weeks. He has since returned to work.
“We’re aware of potential litigation” Smith said, adding “we’re going to wait for the outcome of the GBI investigation.”
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