When the 911 operator doesn’t understand you: How the city is bridging the language gap

The night Kevin Torres was shot and killed in Highlandtown, his sister-in-law dialed 911 for help. “Hello, I speak Spanish,” she can be heard saying frantically in a recording of the call. Within 25 seconds, the 911 operator looped in an interpreter through Language Line, a telephone interpretation service the city has used for years. The 911 operator told the interpreter, Raúl, to ask for the address of the emergency.