KANSAS CITY, Mo — The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council approved a settlement of just over $2 million Thursday in a lawsuit filed by a Prairie Village woman's family after her death in 2019.
The Board of Police Commissioners in KCMO, also named in the lawsuit, voted last month to approve a $2 million settlement with Cathryn McClelland's family.
McClelland was in her Prairie Village home with her two children in the early morning hours of July 18, 2019.
She had not been feeling well and told her 8-year-old son that if she collapsed, he should call 911.
The lawsuit states McClelland collapsed moments later.
Her son tried to wake his mother, the suit states, and then called 911.
The 911 call went to the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department's dispatch center.
The dispatcher asked the child to give her the address to the house after he told her his age and that his father was out of town, according to the lawsuit.
The child went outside to check on the house number and told the dispatcher his address.
He told the dispatcher twice he lived on Belinder Avenue in Prairie Village, according to the lawsuit.
Instead of sending the 911 call to emergency dispatchers in Kansas, the call was sent to the KCMO Fire Department.
The emergency call from the child got to the dispatch center in Kansas and Prairie Village police officers were sent at 6:22 a.m. to the house on Belinder Avenue, according to the lawsuit.
Police arrived three minutes later and began CPR on Cathryn McClelland.
Ambulance and fire crews arrived at the house at 6:31 a.m.
Cathryn was taken to a nearby hospital and died on July 22.
An attorney representing the family sent a statement to KSHB 41 News on their behalf after the settlement was approved.
"Cathryn McClelland was a registered nurse and devoted her professional career to helping heal sick and injured children at Children’s Mercy Hospital," the statement read. "On behalf of her husband, Frank, and her children, we pray this outcome — especially “Cathryn’s Code” — will help ensure the highest quality 911 services are in place for the citizens of the Kansas City metropolitan area."
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