A gardener who dialed 911 as a man hurled rocks and tore through a community garden in Aurora got an answer no one wants to hear in an emergency: no officer was available to send. Newly obtained 911 calls and dispatch records show that response gap stretched more than three hours, even as the man kept damaging property at the site near East 16th Avenue and Yosemite Street on August 8, 2026.
According to Denver7, the first 911 call came in at 12:57 p.m. that Saturday, though garden volunteer Mathew King has said he called around 12:45 p.m. after the man damaged the garden and went after gardeners, according to CBS Colorado — a discrepancy neither outlet has resolved. In that initial call, King reported that someone was throwing rocks and behaving destructively, and he called again about 15 minutes later as the situation continued. A dispatcher told King no officer was available to send yet, and advised callers to keep their distance from the man. King later said he was not aware of anyone being in danger and described the disturbance as verbal, though he also reported the man was causing thousands of dollars in damage. At one point King asked, “Where are your police officers?”
Dispatchers classified the call as Priority 3, a category Aurora's own definitions describe as incidents posing a low threat to personal safety but still requiring police response, covering property crime, disturbances, or nonviolent criminal activity. The city has said the garden incident could reasonably be classified as either a disturbance or vandalism — both Priority 3 — and that the priority would have been upgraded only if callers had reported direct threats against people.
Why the Wait Dragged On So Long
Aurora police did not dispatch officers until 3:48 p.m. and the first unit did not arrive until around 4 p.m. — more than three hours after the initial call, per Denver7's review of dispatch records. The department has attributed the delay to a high volume of Priority 1 and Priority 2 calls happening at the same time, the categories reserved for incidents involving immediate danger to life or safety. City figures show 11 Priority 1 calls and 15 Priority 2 calls were logged between 1 and 4 p.m. that day, with officers spending an average of 87 minutes and 44 seconds on scene at each call.
Aurora Police Department agreed with Aurora911's Priority 3 categorization of the garden call, the department has said. The department was still compiling average Priority 3 response-time data. Aurora police and Aurora911 declined Denver7's requests for on-camera interviews about the incident.
A Mayor Pro Tem Pushes for Answers
A Mayor Pro Tem Pushes for Answers
In its first year of operation, the team responded to 519 calls and served 530 people, according to CBS Colorado, and an earlier six-month stretch saw 82% of its responses resolved on scene without further police involvement, per Rocky Mountain PBS. That same outlet reported the program was once limited to northwest Aurora, running Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and that a prior assessment pegged minimum citywide coverage at $900,000, with full 24/7 coverage across 12 teams costing an estimated $3.5 million.
Weekend Response Gaps
Aurora's homeless abatement team does not work weekends, a gap Denver7 noted in its reporting on weekend response capacity citywide.
Police arrested 42-year-old Worku Woldemariam on a felony criminal mischief allegation in connection with the garden damage, Denver7 reported. He is being held in the Adams County jail and is due back in court Thursday for a review hearing. King had estimated the garden suffered roughly $2,500 in damage.
