Complaint about mishandled 911 call prompts firing of dispatcher

This second 911 incident comes in the wake of complaints about how a call-taker handled a 911 call from an employee inside the Tops grocery during a mass shooting there on May 14.

Legislature Chairwoman April Baskin said she heard from a woman who attended the Sunday birthday party for Zaire Goodman, one of Tops shooting victims who was struck in the neck. Another guest at the party, Marnette Malcolm, a well-known community figure and organizer, suffered a heart-related medical emergency at the party and needed immediate assistance, Baskin said.

When a guest called 911, "the caller experienced a hostile male dispatcher, who according to the caller, accused her of not being cooperative because she was unable to give the precise location of the incident. The caller was able to give the address immediately across the street from the incident. According to the caller, the dispatcher ended the call," Baskin and Legislator Howard Johnson wrote in a letter to Poloncarz. 

A follow-up 911 call was not immediately answered, according to their letter. A call back from 911 was made two minutes later. Baskin said Thursday that she believes the mishandling of the call resulted in the delay of ambulance services to Malcolm.

Poloncarz has also said he expects the county to fire the call-taker involved in the 911 call involving the Tops mass shooting.

In that case, Sheila E. Ayers, an enhanced-911 call-taker working at the time, has been accused of reprimanding a Tops assistant manager for whispering into the phone while the shooter was killing people inside the store. The shooting survivor, Latisha Rogers, said the county call-taker ultimately hung up on her.

Rogers said she "felt that lady left me to die."

In their letter to Poloncarz, Baskin and Johnson, who represent districts that include large swaths of the East Side, said, "We are calling for a full investigation into each of these incidents, as well as a divisionwide investigation into the number of 911 calls that result in dispatcher-caused disconnections."

"We are also requesting an opportunity to listen to the call and read the call log provided by the 911 operator," the two wrote.

E-911 call-takers work for the county's Central Police Services and are responsible for fielding all county 911 calls made from mobile phones.

Johnson said he was less familiar with the incident involving Malcolm, but he heard she is recovering.

"We’re asking to audit that call and see if that’s true what the person was saying," he said.

Jennifer Hibit, Poloncarz's chief of staff, said Thursday that the 911 call regarding the medical emergency was relayed to the county's Medical Emergency Radio System dispatchers. That dispatcher's interaction with the caller was investigated early this week, and the dispatcher was fired Wednesday following a disciplinary hearing. 

Medical Emergency Radio System call-handlers are overseen by the county's Health Department and represent a different group than the enhanced 911 call-takers who work for the county's Central Police Services. Administrators said the investigation into the MERS dispatcher was undertaken swiftly after the administration learned of the complaint Monday morning.

The county also quickly undertook an investigation of the 911 call involving Ayers and placed on her administrative leave May 16 pending a disciplinary hearing that is currently scheduled for June 2, according to the county administration. Her union representatives have said Ayers is entitled to due process and more needs to be learned about what happened.

Baskin and Johnson said they would continue to demand investigations of mishandled emergency calls "to begin the work of restoring trust." 

"As the elected county representatives of the community most impacted by the horrific domestic terrorism of May 14th," they said, "we will continue to be assertive in our response to any complaints from the Black community regarding the professionalism of any county employee who works in public safety or emergency response."