On Aug. 9, 24-year-old Jessica Williams had to wedge her body between a bed and a wall to shield herself from bullets that were being fired into her home on the 500 block of East 109th Street. 

Williams, paralyzed from the waist down, was stuck and unable to move. She called 9-1-1 at 9:05 p.m. However, responders did not arrive at Williams’ house until 11 p.m., two hours  after her initial call.

William’s ordeal is not only the latest in a series of  complaints from South Side residents about the extended times they have experienced waiting for police to arrive.

The Roseland community is not the only neighborhood that experiences extended emergency response times.

Danielle Watson, a customer service agent for the Illinois Currency Exchange at 149 N. Western Ave. in the Near West Side neighborhood said she called 9-1-1 a few months ago when an irate customer walked into the store, but officers never responded.

“No one ever came,” Watson said. “I don’t know if they felt like it was a serious situation, but you don’t know how far [an irate customer] can go.”

When asked by the Chronicle for comment on these and other extended wait times, an official Chicago Police Department spokesperson declined to comment. 

But CPD officer, James Blanden, who often patrols Englewood, said 911 calls are ranked by priority and often include situations that need immediate response, such as shootings, robberies and batteries in progress.  

“Sometimes it extends beyond what you would think the typical time is. We try to prioritize accordingly,” Blanden said. “What may take about a minute for us to arrive, that person may think it took us five [or] 10 minutes.”

The City of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications said  it does not possess any records of emergency response times from 2010 to 2014 responding to a Freedom of Information request from the Chronicle.

“I called 911 as shots were being fired,” Williams said. “At that point I wasn’t hurt, but what if [the shooters] were going to come back around the house? [The police] are not even here fast enough to see if I’m dead, alive or if [they] even have time to save me.”

The piercing sound of a gunshot is all too familiar for Williams. In April 2007, at the age of 16, she was struck by a stray bullet intended for a gang member, paralyzing her from the waist down.

Watson said she thought long wait times could be a result of the lack of officers patrolling the South Side or officers being overworked.

“They may feel like they’re helping, but a lot of [Chicagoans] feel like they are not,” Watson said.

Herbert Redmond, a West Pullman resident, lives four blocks from Roseland. He said he has called police multiple times for domestic disturbances but hasn’t experienced long wait times.

“I called the police and they came out in a timely manner,” Redmond said. “I don’t know what the guidelines [are], but they get here in a timely fashion.”