WTOC Exclusive: Family rings the alarm after New Hampstead player waits over an hour for EMS with broken leg

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -A New Hampstead High School basketball player waited nearly two hours on the gym floor for EMS after breaking his leg during a game Friday evening, his family said.

Marcus Washington Jr. broke his femur bone during the basketball game, an injury his family said required immediate surgery.

“He actually broke his femur bone, which is a very rare bone to break,” Washington’s mother, Lakeshia Ruth, said. “That’s not a bone that just breaks like that. So they were like, we got to get him into surgery immediately.”

Ruth said her son remained on the gym floor for almost two hours while coaches and family members called 911 multiple times.

“They called at least 10 times. Still no EMS,” Ruth said. “Because my son was on the ground for almost 2 hours.”

Emergency help arrived shortly after Washington’s head coach called Chatham County Sheriff Richard Coleman directly.

“One of the head coaches ended up having to call Sheriff Coleman to see if they can get us some help,” Ruth said.

Coleman said he received a call from a New Hampstead High School coach reporting that a basketball player had been lying on the gym floor with a broken leg for about an hour.

“I received a phone call from a coach for the New Hampstead High School saying that a young man was on the gym floor, a basketball player, and it appeared that he had broken his leg and that he had been laying there for maybe an hour or so, and asked me if there was anything I could do because, you know, they couldn’t reach anybody,” Coleman said.

Coleman said he immediately made calls and sent deputies to the basketball gym.

“But when the sheriff’s office was contacted, we sprung into action, and EMS arrived minutes within my phone call,” Coleman said.

EMS cites high call volume

Chatham County Emergency Services said the ambulance dispatch was delayed due to high call volume that evening.

“That specific evening, the ambulance dispatch was delayed due to high volume of life threatening priority 1 calls and urgent priority 2 calls, which both take precedence over priority 3,” the department said in a statement.

Chatham County EMS defines a priority three as a minor issue.

Ruth said watching her son’s pain increase as his adrenaline wore off was difficult for any parent to endure.

“Because, I mean, at some point, his adrenaline, it did start to come down. And we all know once that adrenaline rush come down and go away, that pain kicks in immediately. And it got to the point where he was like, I can’t take it,” Ruth said.

Washington’s aunt questioned why it took so long to get help for an injured child.

“Why do it take that much to get someone to come look at a child that’s in pain and they know it and does nothing about it?” she said.

Mayor Van Johnson commented on the situation, saying progress is being made on a new public safety facility meant to expand police and fire services to the growing area.