- On any given shift, police dispatcher Marciea Adkins could have monitored a police pursuit, her voice providing a key link between the officers in the chase and other units on the street.
Adkins died early Sunday driving home from her overnight shift after her car was struck by a teenager fleeing from police in stolen SUV, police said. The 16-year-old had touched off a nearly 2-mile pursuit after he backed into a police vehicle during a traffic stop for failing to stop at a red light, police said.
Adkins, 42, was married to a dispatcher for the Chicago Fire Department, and the couple had a young daughter.
The city flag at Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications was lowered to half-staff on Sunday, and Adkins’ body was escorted by police and fire vehicles from Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
From everything we've heard from friends at work, Adkins was highly thought of and a good, capable dispatcher - something very valuable nowadays in these uncertain times. The radio is our lifeline and the person on the other end is often the angel looking over our shoulders.
Sun Times coverage here.
Thoughts and prayers for the Dispatcher and her family only here.
Sun Times coverage here.
Thoughts and prayers for the Dispatcher and her family only here.