A 911 operator was charged last month with involuntary manslaughter after allegedly refusing to send an ambulance to pick up a 54-year-old Pennsylvania woman in 2020 who died from internal bleeding the next day.

On July 1, 2020, Kelly Titchenell called 911 to request an ambulance for her mother, Diania Kronk. In the 911 call recording — which was provided to PEOPLE by Lawrence E. Bolind Jr., an attorney representing Titchenell in a federal lawsuit filed in June — dispatcher Leon Price seemingly expressed reluctance to send help unless Titchenell could provide assurance her mother would agree to go in the ambulance. 

"We can't force her to go in an ambulance," Price is heard saying on the call. Later, he asks Titchenell to "make sure she's willing to go before we send resources out there, in case she says no."

On the call, Titchenell, who was on her way to her mother's house after learning of the woman's symptoms from her brother, said her mom's skin was yellow, adding that she was incoherent and "making noises" while laying in bed. She told Price, "We need to get her to a hospital."

When Price asked if Kronk was willing to go to the hospital, Titchenell said, "She will be because I'm on my way there, so she's going or she's going to die."

However, according to both the criminal and civil cases against him, the dispatcher allegedly didn't send help, instead asking Titchenell to call back once she arrived at her mom's residence and could confirm her mother would agree to go to the hospital, officials say. When Titchenell arrived, she said she didn't have cellphone service to call for an ambulance a second time.

Kronk died the next day from internal bleeding.

"Still to this day, I don't know why he didn't send anybody, because my mom's never refused medical treatment that I'm aware of, so I don't understand," Titchenell tells PEOPLE, adding that she believes three ambulances were available.

Titchenell tells PEOPLE she has physical disabilities, so she couldn't lift her mom into her car to take her to get medical care. 

"I had someone coming the next day to take her to the hospital that she would have listened to, but she didn't make it 'til then," she says. 

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Titchenell contacted Bolind Jr. in July of 2020 after her mom's death to proceed with a civil lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed last month, and criminal charges followed several days after the suit was filed.

"The civil lawsuit is saying: because Ms. Kronk was entitled to emergency services and those were denied for what we're saying was an unconstitutional reason, that brought it into federal court, so it's a civil rights violation," Bolind Jr. tells PEOPLE. 

In addition to involuntary manslaughter, Price is charged criminally with recklessly endangering another person, official oppression and obstruction of the administration of law or other government function.

Greene County District Attorney Dave Russo tells PEOPLE: "We brought charges in this matter after reviewing the 911 recording because Ms. Titchenell expressly stated that her mother was going to die if she did not get medical treatment."

He adds: "An ambulance was not dispatched. This violated protocol and it violated the operating guidelines."

Price was arraigned and released on a $15,000 bond, according to Russo. It wasn't immediately clear if Price has entered a plea, and PEOPLE was not able to reach his attorney.

It is unclear at this time whether Price is still employed as a 911 operator.

"I took legal action because I wanted him held accountable," Titchenell says, "I wanted Greene County to be held accountable. Somebody needed to be held accountable."

She adds, "It took two years before my lawsuit became public and before everything was done and ready to be filed, and he was never charged, nothing ever happened, until two to three days after the federal lawsuit came out, and then [the District Attorney] charged him." 

The preliminary hearing regarding the charges against Price will be in August.

"My hope for the whole thing is that it never happens to anyone else," Titchenell says.