Popular YouTube podcaster Evan Lovett is backtracking on a claim he made over the weekend that he waited for nearly an hour on a 911 call after a burglary at his Studio City home before speaking with a human being on the phone. He admitted he made a mistake and apologized.
“This was a big mistake, frankly, that I accept responsibility for,” Lovett, the host of LA in a Minute, said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.
“To be fully honest in my recollection when the call was transferred was the time in my head that the clock started. It was a huge mistake on my part. I regret inferring that 911 didn’t pick up,” Lovett said of the incident which he described as “traumatic” and “chaotic.”
On Monday, Lovett said in a social media video that he actually first spoke Friday evening with a dispatcher within minutes — rather than nearly an hour, as he reported on Saturday. His initial, erroneous complaint drew online attention over the weekend and comments from local officials concerned about the apparent slow 911 response time.
“I want to make that clear. They answered, they asked what went on,” Lovett said in the video. He described the break-in, including the shattered back window. The operator then asked if anyone was in immediate danger. Lovett said he responded “no,” and was told he would be transferred to police.
Lovett, 46, arrived home with his wife and son just after 9 p.m. Friday after a Little League game to find their house had been burglarized. Shortly after, Lovett called 911 and was connected with an operator within two minutes, Lovett reported in the video posted Monday.
“It was 58 minutes at that point from the time that they picked up, which in retrospect with that chaos with that stress is a reasonable time for a not imminently dangerous situation,” Lovett said in the video. He proceeded to thank 911 dispatchers and the police.
“They are doing a fantastic job. As is the LAPD who came within six minutes,” Lovett added in the video.
Los Angeles police Capt. Ray Valois praised Lovett for coming forward once he realized the facts of his 911 call.
“I have to compliment him on his character,” Valois said, noting that Lovett was emotional and adamant at first that he had waited nearly an hour to speak with a dispatcher. But when police played back the audio recording of the 911 call, Lovett realized he had in fact spoken to an operator sooner than he originally remembered.
“He was very apologetic,” Valois said. The captain also emphasized that emergency calls, like those involving imminent threats, are prioritized over non-emergency calls like Lovett’s.
Speaking about his erroneous initial report, Lovett on Wednesday added: “It was a mistake on my part and I think anybody who’s aware of my work, my track record, my dedication to the city, knows that I would not do anything to disparage the city. That’s precisely why as soon as I realize the mistake, I put out a corrective video with the exact timeline of narrative.”
His earlier report drew responses from local officials.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass condemned the delayed response as “unacceptable” and stated that more than 100 dispatchers were hired last year. City council member Nithya Raman also commented.
“911 wait times for non-urgent calls are unacceptably long right now due to low recruitment for open positions, for 911 operators and emergency and non-emergency calls being routed through the same operators,” Raman said in a statement released to KCAL News on Saturday.
Valois told NBC Los Angeles that the department is working to hire new dispatchers and that longer wait times for non-emergency calls are not uncommon during evenings and weekends.
Though Lovett spoke with a 911 dispatcher sooner than he initially remembered, the incident still highlights the longer wait times Los Angeles residents face when calling 911.