The city’s buggy new 911 system — already the subject of a lawsuit — had a high-profile fail today when Christine Quinn was forced to call NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly personally to get an ambulance after someone fainted in her presence. Quinn was giving a press conference in Williamsburg when an 18-year-old City Council intern passed out in the 93-degree heat, hitting her head on the sidewalk. It took more than 30 minutes for a fire truck, and then an ambulance, to arrive.
“It just took a half an hour for an ambulance to get to a place where a young girl had fainted and was lying on the street in sweltering heat, where there were four TV cameras, at least, the speaker of the City Council, and a council member,” said Quinn, “visibly irritated,” to the press. “It raises great questions about how long it takes an ambulance to get anywhere else where there aren’t television and aren’t two elected officials. It’s inexcusable.”
