Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Gilroy probes 911-dispatch miscue after call

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2003 17:42:15 -0400

Gilroy probes 911-dispatch miscue after call

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

By Eric Leins

The investigation of a potentially fatal emergency response mistake is focused on
a longtime Gilroy Police Department dispatcher who may have neglected to transfer
a call for help to the California Highway Patrol and rescue personnel.
Assistant Chief of Police Lanny Brown said Wednesday that after reviewing tapes of
two phone calls made Tuesday by the witness of William Iwanaga’s accident on Buena
Vista Avenue at No Name Uno, the evidence warranted a formal internal
investigation by the police department. Brown said his decision to move toward a
more formal inquiry of the dispatcher was also based on the CHP’s claims that a
call from the Gilroy police dispatcher was never made. “There is no evidence
indicating that the call was transferred to CHP,” said Brown, who has yet to
formally interview the dispatcher.

Brown, who is acting police chief in place of vacationing Gregg Giusiana, made
copies of the dispatch tapes available to the media Wednesday. It is believed
Iwanaga suffered a heart attack or stroke before losing control of his vehicle.
The dispatcher, whose name the police would not release, is still actively working
Gilroy phone lines. The man was described by Brown as “conscientious and one of
the best dispatchers at the GPD.” He has not been placed on administrative leave.
Iwanaga, 75, was a longtime and well-known strawberry farmer in Gilroy and San
Martin.

The call A female motorist, who police also will not identify, called Gilroy
police on a non-emergency line Tuesday at 10:50 a.m. The caller reported a runaway
pickup that nearly hit her as she drove by the Buena Vista and No Name Uno Avenue
intersection.

The police dispatcher took down the location of the incident and told the caller
he would “get somebody right on it.” However, before he could transfer the call to
CHP, as required by procedure, the dispatcher lost contact with the caller.

Whatever the dispatcher did next is what’s under investigation. Since he had the
location of the incident but no caller remaining on the line, procedure would have
required him to phone CHP himself and ask units to be sent out to investigate.
“This is not the kind of employee I can imagine just hanging up on the call,”
Brown said.

In formal interviews, the police dispatcher will have to answer specifically what
he did after he recognized the female caller had lost contact. The dispatcher,
Brown said, has the right to representation from a lawyer or someone from the
union.
“Now that this is a formal investigation, I will have to review the 911 tapes of
the CHP,” Brown said. “But I have no reason not to believe (CHP Capt.) Bob Davies
when he tells me he’s looked into this and found no record of a call from us. I
have to shoulder this and take ownership of this as though it happened at our
level.” CHP Sgt. Dave Hill confirmed the highway patrol received no calls from the
GPD dispatcher regarding the Iwanaga accident.

A fatal mistake?

Paramedics did not arrive on the scene until a few minutes after noon, more than
an hour after Iwanaga’s pickup nearly hit the caller. Crews finally were sent to
the scene after a 911 call was made by the caller’s husband, who also drove along
Buena Vista and noticed the white GMC pickup had veered off the road and had run
over a chain link fence.

Had the witness called 911 or had the dispatcher contacted CHP as he said he
would, nonparamedic units would likely have been the first to respond since there
was no injury accident being reported. The CHP units would then have called for
paramedics once they discovered Iwanaga. CHP officers are trained emergency
medical technicians and could have delivered CPR to Iwanaga even before paramedics
arrived on scene. City Councilmember and physician Peter Arellano said a victim
who has been without pulse or breath for three minutes or less has a good chance
of being revived without suffering brain damage.

“When you get past five minutes of no oxygen to the brain, brain tissue dies,”
Arellano said. “Sometimes people get revived, but they hardly ever recover because
they were out for too long. When you discover someone and then revive them, you
always hope they weren’t out of oxygen for too long.” No matter what the scenario,
city and police officials are reeling over the idea that medical help could have
been at the scene nearly one hour sooner.

“In the hallways morale is OK,” Brown said. “But for this one dispatcher, I know
he’s not feeling real good over this. They take ownership of their calls. Even
when they do everything right and a victim doesn’t pull through, it can be tough
on them and they can question everything they did.” council briefed City
Administrator Jay Baksa briefed City Councilmen about the incident via telephone
Wedneseday afternoon. “We just got the basic information, enough not to get
blindsided by you guys,” Councilman Bob Dillon said, referring to the media. “It’s
my understanding a mistake was made. We need to figure out whether this was a
system failure or one with personnel.”

Although a severe electrical storm last Monday night put normal GPD radio
communication out of commission, Brown said he was not aware of technical problems
with the department’s telephone system. He called it “a stretch” to assume the
storm may have a connection to the emergency response delay.
As part of the internal investigation, Brown will analyze the amount of staff and
the number of calls that came into the GPD dispatch at the time of the Iwanaga
incident.

Eric Leins covers Gilroy schools and Gavilan college for the Morgan Hill Times.

http://morganhilltimes.com/news/newsview.asp?c=72308

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