A time-response log that could help explain why Nizah Morris wasn’t taken to a hospital for more than an hour after a 911 call was placed on her behalf remains unaccounted for by local authorities.
Morris, a transgender woman, became a homicide victim shortly after getting inside a police vehicle during the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 22, 2002. The case remains unsolved.
She had been drinking heavily at a Center City bar, and an onlooker made a 911 call on her behalf, seeking medical attention.
Officer Elizabeth Skala was Morris’ first responder, and reportedly gave her a “courtesy ride” to the vicinity of 16th and Walnut streets, where she thought Morris lived.
Within minutes, Morris was found unconscious at that intersection, bleeding from the side of her head.
The time-response log at issue was generated at the city’s 911 call center.
It pertains to a vehicle stop unrelated to Morris that Skala initiated while her Morris dispatch was still pending at the 911 call center.
The ensuing confusion resulted in an “unfounded” designation for the initial 911 call for Morris, and no police report of the “courtesy ride” was filed.
The city’s Police Advisory Commission received a redacted version of the log several years ago, as part of its Morris probe. The PAC was unable to determine the source of the redaction. But in April, the PAC issued a report that recommends state and federal probes of Morris’ homicide.
The portion of the log that’s redacted would detail the level of urgency Skala conveyed to her dispatcher about the vehicle stop, which took place at 13th and Filbert streets.
It apparently had a high priority, because Skala never responded to Morris at 16th and Walnut, though records indicate she was notified of an injured person there.
Instead, Skala stayed at 13th and Filbert for about 80 minutes, waiting for a vehicle to be towed, after ticketing the motorist for driving without proper paperwork, according to police records.
City medics didn’t take Morris to a hospital until 4:13 a.m. — 66 minutes after the first 911 call for her was made.
When questioned by PGN, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said it doesn’t have any time-response logs relating to the Morris case. But the office declined to provide a sworn statement that its Morris homicide file was searched.
This week, PGN filed an appeal in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
The paper seeks a court order for the D.A.’s Office to release the unredacted log, or provide a sworn statement that a search of its Morris homicide file didn’t yield the log.
In a related matter, on Nov. 7 the city law department said it won’t permit the release of numerous Morris records in the PAC’s possession.
The records were provided to the PAC by the D.A.’s Office in November 2011.
The records include summaries of interviews with three police officers and a supervisor involved in the Morris incident, along with several civilian-witness interviews.
PGN requested the records in accordance with a 2008 stipulated order signed by a Philadelphia judge. The order states that PGN will have access to Morris-related records in the possession of city agencies.
But the law department said a non-disclosure agreement between the PAC and the D.A.’s Office prevents the paper from accessing the records.
The paper has filed a Right-to-Know Law request for copies of all non-disclosure agreements between the PAC and the D.A.’s Office.
Former state Rep. Babette Josephs was outspoken in her criticism of the law department’s decision.
“Nizah Morris was put into a police vehicle at 3 o’clock in the morning on a cold, wintry day,” Josephs said. “The next thing we know, she’s lying in the street, a homicide victim. Ten years later, the city tells us we can’t access records that could shed light on the police response to Nizah. It’s outrageous. City officials should be ashamed of themselves for being a party to the D.A.’s cover-up.”
