New video from MCTS buses shows where woman lay unseen before dying in sub-freezing weather
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- We have new video of the emergency response to Jolene Waldref, the woman who died in January from probable hypothermia.
The video comes from cameras on three MCTS buses that stopped at the corner where Waldref was on the ground the night of Jan. 15.
For weeks, our team -and the Milwaukee Fire Department and Curtis Ambulance- have been piecing together the timeline of what happened that night.
Waldref called 911 that evening but the ambulance crew sent to respond never saw her. She was pronounced dead less than an hour after her call.
Three different bus cameras show Waldref that night as she waited at the corner of 76th and Congress.
They show her before and after she went down, as well as the emergency response after passersby called 911 more than 20 minutes after she did.
The first bus gets to the intersection of 76th and Congress at 5:18, according to the timestamp in the video.
The air temperature that day was 0° and 20 mph wind gusts brought the wind chill down to -20.
Waldref's feet can be seen from the front door camera and curbside camera as the bus stops and waits at a red light; she is seen more clearly as the bus pulls away 30 seconds later.
Surveillance video from a nearby building also shows her standing there.
Fifteen minutes later, at 5:34, bus #5921 comes through and the windshield camera does not show Waldref standing.
Video from the front door camera was slowed down by MCTS and appears to show a large object on the sidewalk. And surveillance video from the same time shows that's where Waldref was on the ground.
Then at 5:50, bus #6103 comes to the intersection.
On the windshield camera, Waldref can be clearly seen on the ground.
The video also shows a concerned driver -previously seen on the surveillance video- who saw Waldref from the road, reversed her car, and got out to check on her.
At the same time, the Milwaukee fire engine arrives, and several emergency personnel jump out.
The front door camera from the bus catches some of the response, then shows firefighters start to carry Waldref onto the bus.
The bus video ends there as MCTS chose not to share Waldref getting active medical treatment.
Of note: Curtis Ambulance CEO James Baker has repeatedly said his crew that night could not see Waldref lying on the sidewalk because snowbanks blocked their view.
Only one of the bus's curbside cameras shows the angle the ambulance crew had while looking for her.
From that angle, snow is not blocking the view of the sidewalk.
And while the bus camera may have a higher vantage point than someone sitting in an ambulance, it's also the angle the driver of the hatchback had when they eventually saw Waldref and called 911.
Also Tuesday, Milwaukee city leaders delayed a private ambulance contract in the wake of the death investigation. They are also pursuing potential policy changes.
At 8:30 Wednesday morning, both Curtis Ambulance and Bell Ambulance will have a closed meeting with the Milwaukee Fire Department to review protocol for looking for people who are not immediately seen on 911 calls.
But Fire Chief Aaron Lipski told us there are no plans to answer questions after that meeting.