A 911 operator who ignored a call reporting a injured man lying in a street has lost her job following an internal investigation. The injured man eventually died after lying on the side of a road for 16 hours. There has been no determination as of yet if his death could have been averted if the 911 operator had sent emergency personnel to the scene immediately after the call was placed. Charlotte County is currently facing a lawsuit over the way 911 operators handled the abduction of Denise Lee.
The most recent incident took place December 11 in North Port when a man reported seeing someone lying on the side of a road to the 911 operator. The caller was unsure of the street name but gave detailed directions to the location of the injured party. The 911 operator reportedly felt the caller was intoxicated and that he would call back. He never did and no help was ever sent. A medical examiner’s report is expected to determine time of death, which will also determine if a response from 911 could have saved the man’s life.
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Good News Charlotte County Residents, Sheriff Gives No Specific Promise To Protect You
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s office is battling a major lawsuit from the husband of Denise Lee following her horrific murder. We understand that the county is going to do what it has to in order to protect itself from the lawsuit but filing a motion that says “the agency gave no specific promises that it would protect Denise Lee” doesn’t seem like it would be a winning argument in front of a jury. Whatever happened to the idea of “To Protect And Serve”?
The lawyers for Charlotte County used the argument that there was no specific relationship with Denise Lee compared with the general public according to a story on the Sarasota Herald Tribune. The county’s lawyer hopes the motion will result in the lawsuit being dismissed before a sympathetic jury hears the story of how a 911 operator botched a call that may have saved the young mother’s life.
More Problems With 911 Operators In North Port And Charlotte County
Just two months after the husband of murder victim Denise Lee filed a lawsuit over a botched 911 call that may have saved the young mother’s life, the North Port and Charlotte County 911 systems are under fire once again. According to a column by Eric Ernst in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, a 911 operator in North Port basically dismissed a call that may have helped save the life of 55-year-old Brian Woods.
Mark Minisci, Jr. called 911 to report a man lying on the ground next to his pick-up truck. Minisci couldn’t remember the name of the street where he saw the man but gave detailed directions to the location. The 911 operator who handled the call did nothing with the information saying her ‘system doesn’t work like that’. Sixteen hours after the call Woods was still lying in the exact same spot in the street dead. We don’t know yet whether the man was alive when Minisci did his civic duty and made the call, but it is sure to once again cast a spotlight on the state of 911 operators in this part of Florida and could lead to yet another wrongful death lawsuit.