He said a creator of Los Angeles content waited 58 minutes to do the 911 and answered the phone after his home was stolen.
“In One Minute” podcast host Evan Lovett returned to his studio city home after 9pm Friday after his 11-year-old son’s baseball game. A glass door at the back of the house was smashed, and valuables including jewelry and the safes for items left to him by the late father disappeared.
After searching for the intruders of the house, Lovett said he called 911 and was put on hold for 58 minutes. “It’s disturbing,” he said in a video posted on social media.
“What if my son choked? What if my wife slipped and fell in the shower and opened her head?” he said in an interview with The Times on Sunday.
Police publicly presented his estimates to respond to his call.
Lovett dismissed Valova’s claim and said he had witnesses to prove it. Lovett said several of his neighbors came to his home to help and were listening at the speaker’s 911. He said when he called him, a two-part recording told him that he was put on hold and then said there was a heavy phone call that did not hang up.
“Until 58 minutes, we absolutely had no one to hear.”
Lovitt said that once the dispatchers picked it up, Los Angeles police arrived to report within six minutes. At that time, it was about 10:12 pm
He said his Wi-Fi-now Ring camera did not find any movement between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., which led officials to believe a group of thieves used Wi-Fi Jammer to destroy the camera and were out of sight.
Lovett, who served as a sports writer for the Times from 1998 to 1999, said he wanted to use his platform to start a conversation about how he thinks the negative trajectory of Los Angeles.
Lovett’s podcasts regularly look at history, news, and current events, shaping Los Angeles. But earlier in the day of breaking in, he posted an episode where he described people frustrated by the city’s conditions. “From the fires to the raids on ice to the political blame game, to the ongoing struggle in Hollywood, the melancholy atmosphere was spread all over Los Angeles,” the description read. Then the break-in happened.
Now, he feels he should speak out based on his experience, as well as a shortage of staff at the Los Angeles Police Department and 911 call centers.
“When it comes out on your front door, I have a platform to reach out to important people and decision makers, and I think, I have to say something,” Lovett said. “Let’s build constructively, let’s all work to improve the city without getting angry with each other without pointing at each other because the air in Los Angeles is already heavy enough. Let’s do it in a positive, exciting way.”
He said several local officials, including his city council representative Nithya Raman, have contacted him since the burglary.
LAPD did not immediately respond to Times requests for the 911 call report on Sunday, which could show what happened to Lovett’s emergency call.
