Prosecutors play 911 call of girl they say was run to death
GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — Jurors have heard the chilling 911 call that was made when an Alabama girl collapsed after running around her yard in what prosecutors say was punishment inflicted by her grandmother.
Grandmother Joyce Garrard is heard repeatedly calling the name of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin in the background of the more than nine-minute recording played in court Tuesday.
The child's stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, made the call telling a 911 operator the girl had a seizure. She never says the girl had been running or had any previous medical problems.
The operator says Garrard at one point is heard asking for a smoke while the child was unconscious on the ground. The defense suggests the woman was actually asking for a throw, like a blanket.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
A neighbor of a woman accused of making her granddaughter run until she died testified Tuesday that the girl was crying and begging to stop before she collapsed.
Grandmother Joyce Hardin Garrard, 49, "was hollering at her, telling her she better move it," Jolie Jacobs told jurors.
Prosecutors say Garrard ran 9-year-old Savannah Hardin to death as punishment for a lie three years ago.
Jacobs lived across the street from the girl's home at the time. She said she saw Savannah running and carrying wood as Garrard yelled at her.
"She was crying and begging to stop," Jacobs said, Savannah fell in apparent exhaustion, still crying. "Joyce kept telling her to move it."
Jacobs said she had decided to intervene, but an ambulance arrived. The girl died in a hospital three days later, and Jacobs said she regrets not doing something to help.
The defense denies that Garrard meant to do anything to harm the child.
Source
