AUSTIN (KXAN) — On a Saturday afternoon, the Purciful family was on the way home to Killeen from a trip to the aquarium when they said a car hit them head-on on Jollyville road.
“The kids were screaming. The smoke. The airbag. Everything,” Lacey Purciful said.
The 911 call came in at 4:18 p.m., according to the Austin Police Department (APD), and officers arrived at 6:35 p.m.
“APD officers in that sector and surrounding sectors were busy assisting with other emergency calls when that incident was reported,” the department said in a statement, adding that the officers who showed up came from a “surrounding sector.”
The Pulcifurs said the driver of the car that hit them was visibly drunk, and admitted to recently leaving a nearby bar.
At this time, APD said there is no criminal investigation into the driver’s actions.
The crash victims, who said they have injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to fractured wrists and pulled muscles, have now hired an attorney to pursue the matter civilly.
“My clients of course want him to be prosecuted but I think in light of the fact he was allowed to leave the scene, I think that will be difficult,” said their attorney Adam Loewy.
Dustin Purciful added “We just don’t want [the driver] doing this to anyone else.”
APD said the call came in as “Crash Urgent,” which is classified as a Priority 2 call. The system classifies calls as Priority 0 – Priority 4, with “0” being the most urgent.
We looked through incident reports from the sector the crash happened in Saturday evening and found, among other calls, several criminal trespassing and disturbance calls. Police said “Criminal Trespass” is a Priority 2, and disturbance calls vary in priority.
The Austin Police Association said having additional officers stationed downtown for SXSW over the weekend made it harder to staff patrol shifts in other areas of the city.
Below is a portion of APD’s statement on the response time.
Our officers work hard every day to handle the high volume of calls that we may receive and answer them accordingly with the resources we have on hand. Unfortunately, this service level differs from the level we hope to provide our community. Still, we consistently review our processes and assess how we can improve in serving the city of Austin and those who choose to visit.
Austin Police Department.