COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — A teenage girl died after collapsing during a volleyball practice this week. Authorities say an ambulance called before she died never showed up.
15-year-old Amanda Sylvester was at a club volleyball practice Thursday when she collapsed on the floor of the Tracey Wyatt Recreations Center in College Park.
"Within about eight minutes, College Park Rire Rescue EMTS were on site," said Bill Crane, a spokesman for Fulton County. "The young lady, by then, was conscious, evaluated, and assessed. Her vitals were all normal; she was making eye contact, her pupils weren’t dilated, and she was conversant."
Although EMTs had helped stabilize the 15-year-old, a call had also gone out for an ambulance.
City officials say it never showed up for forty minutes, so the child’s mother drove her to a children’s hospital adjacent to Grady.
"The mother felt comfortable enough to put the child in the car. But at the same time – you just never know. When you call for an ambulance, that’s what you want. And you want it fast," said a College Park city councilwoman, Jamelle McKenzie.
Reached by phone, the 15-year-old's mother declined to comment.
Although she had stabilized earlier, Amanda went into cardiac arrest at Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital and died, Crane said.
In a statement, Grady EMS wrote: Following an update on the patient’s condition, the call was reclassified, and a Grady EMS unit was promptly dispatched. However, as our unit was en route, College Park Fire determined that additional EMS support was no longer needed due to the patient being transported to the hospital via personal vehicle.
"We never got a response from the service that was supposed to come," McKenzie said.
"And we still don’t have an answer as to why on that," added Crane.
College Park officials are hoping to get some clarification as to what went wrong. 15-year-old Amanda Sylvester’s family is now planning a funeral.