911 Operator Sued, page 1

posted on Dec, 7 2005 @ 09:16 PM

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A Colorado woman is suing a 911 dispatcher for not sending police quickly enough to save her daughter's life when the father of the daughter's two children kidnapped and murdered her.

Le Thu Nguyen was abducted by Omar Green, the father of her two children, on a July morning four years ago. He forced his way into her car, drove around for some time, and then killed her in Denver's City Park. Her body was found later in her car by family and friends.

"I think when 911 is called they should have responded," Susan Duvall, Nguyen's mother, said. "It's an emergency."

Duvall said it didn't have to end this way. She said that Denver dispatcher Jeanette Price answered two calls about what looked like an extremely volatile situation between a man and a woman: one from Duvall and one from a pizza-delivery man.

Two 911 Calls

The delivery man calls first. John Chauvin does not know Nguyen or Green. He describes seeing a black male jumping into the passenger side window of a car that a young Asian woman is driving....

Nguyen's mother calls soon after Chauvin. She has been called by the nail salon where her daughter works. The women in the salon, who are related to the victim and knew her former fiancé had been stalking and threatening her, have seen Green jump into the car.

ABCNews

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I've called 911 operators and have gotten into a legal debate. I've heard a number of other calls on TV and I can't believe the idiotic responses given by the dispatchers. Theirs is a very important job and they need excellent communication and analytical skills. My experience is that they don't have those skills.

[edit on 2005/12/7 by GradyPhilpott]

DontTreadOnMe

posted on Dec, 7 2005 @ 09:43 PM

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Good post, Grady.

Years ago, I took a class in Stress Management my employere offered.
There were seveal 911 operators in the class.
They all seemed interested in their work and eager to help others.
The stress level in that job is high, as you can imagine. Especially since at leas one of the supervisors was clearly not cut out for what she was doing.

So, even if these people have the skills, the stress and management can also hamper doing a timely job.

reblazed

posted on Dec, 7 2005 @ 09:53 PM

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"Emergency services call takers and dispatchers are required to make critical judgements under very tight timelines for the purpose of quickly determining whether a particular situation requires a response .......," said Price's attorney, Jennifer Gifford. "............ Ms. Price utilized her professional judgment and training in an effort to ascertain what would be an appropriate response."

"After two calls, it took 47 minutes for police to arrive on the scene" this doesn't seem like any action was taken under any tight timelines. With his record, I'm just wondering how much time it should have taken to determine that this man was dangerous and that this situation required a response.

The other side is HOW do you prove "willful and wanton" behavior?

Nothing will bring this woman back to her children or family ... but some other family may be spared this devastation if we start insisting they ALL perform to higher standards and use "professional judgement and training".

I do understand that the majority of 911 operators are extremely qualified for their careers ... but it only takes one "bad apple".......... as the saying goes.