KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — Kansas City and the Kansas City Police Department will pay a Prairie Village, Kansas, man $4.124 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit against his wife five years ago. The settlement is expected to be formally approved by the Finance Committee on Thursday.

The lawsuit alleges that delays and errors by callers during a 911 call led to the death of 41-year-old Cathryn McClelland. The settlement also leads to changes within the 911 system.

Cathryn was 41 years old when she collapsed one morning in her home in Prairie Village. Her husband was at a construction site in Iowa. She was home alone with her two young children. She died four days after the 911 call.

“It’s been a long, four-year fight to get justice for this family,” said Brian McCallister, the family’s attorney. “(Cathryn) died because call takers didn’t do what they should have been trained to do. The 911 system in Kansas City failed Cathryn and her family.”

Confusion from the start

When Cathryn collapsed, her son Joel called 911. But the call went to Kansas City. There was confusion about the address. The callers did not trust the child to know his address.

KCTV5 received the recording as an aid when it first reported on the case several years ago.

It started with 8-year-old Joel explaining the situation.

JOEL: So, I’m just a kid with my little sister and my mom is on the floor and my dad is out of town.

KCPD: Do you know your address?

JOEL: Let me go out. Prairie Village, Belinder Avenue.

The boy gives an address, but quickly realizes his mistake and gives the correct address. This is one minute and ten seconds into the conversation.

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Apparently the caller is still not sure. The mapping software shows that the call is coming from another location, within walking distance of where the child is supposedly located. It is decided to call an adult – Frank McClennen, who works in Iowa.

KCPD: This is the Kansas City Missouri Police Department…who am I speaking with?

FRANK: Frank McClelland.

Frank gives the address again. It is the same one the child gave them.

KCPD: You say this is Prairie Village, Kansas?

FRANK: Yes. What’s going on?

KCPD: I don’t know. He said his mother fell on the floor. She’s laying there and she’s not awake. We have him on the line, we just needed to confirm the address.

Frank: Oh, Jesus!

This is the case after five and a half minutes of the conversation.

KCPD and KCFD discuss where to route the call. After nine and a half minutes, Prairie Village police were called. But it took nearly 13 minutes for an ambulance to be dispatched to the house.

‘He is my hero’

“When I heard the call, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Frank McClelland told us in a previous interview. “My son had called and in a very short time provided information to help his mother.”

“He did everything he could to convince them,” said Frank. “He was calm. He could express himself well. I’ve told him ever since: He’s my hero.”

Medical records show that the young mother suffered a cardiac arrest. Cathryn’s heart rhythm was restored, but her brain suffered from a lack of oxygen. She was taken off life support and became an organ donor.