It was an urgent call for help that didn’t receive an urgent response.
After Brian Wood, 55, crashed his pickup into a pole on Friday, he got out and sat down nearby. A motorist saw him on the ground and called 911, but since he couldn’t remember the exact name of the road, the North Port Police Dept. (NPPD) call-taker never dispatched an officer.
Twenty hours later, when officers finally arrived after a second 911 call, they found Wood had eventually died from his injuries.
“I’m trying to think if it’s Lovebird or Lovesong,” Mark Minisci Jr. told the 911 operator, trying to remember the name of the street. He even provided directions.
But the crash was on Lovering Ave., and the frustrated call-taker told Minisci that the NPPD system “doesn’t work like that” and she “(had) to have something.”
Chief Terry Lewis took responsibility for the mistake on Tuesday, calling it either human error or a policy problem.
“A police officer,” Lewis said, “should be sent to talk to people…we need to do everything we can to make sure these mistakes don’t happen.”
Part of the problem was that the 911 operator from the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office never told the NPPD call-taker what the emergency was, but Lewis said she should have asked better questions. He says there is nothing wrong with the 911 system.
The call-taker is on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Lewis says the investigation should also help his department prevent similar problems in the future.
Also on STATter911 …
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- Chicago fire captain accused of pushing marine unit cop to ground at water rescue scene. Investigation underway – November 14, 2011
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NPPD dispatcher dropped the ball. No excuse for this kind of error. How do they suppose calls were dispatched before the days of computers?
It sounds like everyone failed Brian Wood.
These days, people call 911 from the safety of their car with as few details as possible and without ever checking on their fellow man. This guy felt unsafe returning and perhaps I can appreciate that… But how many folks call to report a “bad accident” with people hurt only for us to find nothing. Most of these calls aren’t malicious — they’re lazy. People see a car on the side of the road and think they’re saving the day even though they don’t slow down long enough to see that the car just has a flat.
And speaking of lazy, it seems that all emergency services are so dependent on computers and policies that a growing number of people can’t think for themselves and do the right thing. The police dispatcher had at least one of the street names. I know that all of the BS callers jade dispatchers and call-takers, but decisions to respond or not shouldn’t be made in dispatch. They obviously had a vicinity to check. Chances are that if the dispatcher put the call out, an officer that knew the area would have said “oh, that’s Lovering.” Instead, no one got that chance.
If he crashed into a telephone pole the dispatcher should have asked if he could see the numbering placard. The utility company normally would be able to locate the incident scene through that.
Wow.
Using google maps and entering tropicare (I didn’t know how to spell it), I easily found North Salford. Whaddayaknow, there at one end is a street the starts with “Love”… just like the caller said.
Their CAD and GIS may not “work that way”, but a Fire Lieutenant with 45 seconds and a laptop hundreds of miles away still managed to figure it out. Imagine what I could do if I worked there and knew my district.
Well
In the old days before computers they would have given it to the nearest compnay and they would have found it….
so sad.