|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
911
Dispatcher
may be
fired
over
handling
of
Buffalo
shooting
call
By
Ed
Shanahan
nytimes.com
Follow
BUFFALO,
NY - An
emergency
services
dispatcher
in
Buffalo
could be
fired
after
being
accused
by a
supermarket
employee
of
hanging
up on a
911 call
during a
racist
shooting
rampage
at the
store
last
week.
The
dispatcher,
who has
not been
publicly
identified,
was
placed
on
administrative
leave on
Monday
after an
internal
investigation
and
faces a
disciplinary
hearing
on May
30, at
which
“termination
will be
sought,”
Peter
Anderson,
a
spokesman
for the
Erie
County
executive,
said.
The
investigation
was
prompted
by
comments
by
Latisha
Rogers,
an
assistant
office
manager
at the
Tops
supermarket
where a
white
gunman
killed
10 Black
people
in one
of the
worst
racist
mass
shootings
in the
recent
history
of the
United
States.
Sign
up for
The
Morning
newsletter
from The
New York
Times
The
man
charged
in the
killings,
Payton
Gendron,
18, has
been
accused
of
traveling
200
miles
from his
home in
Conklin,
N.Y.,
specifically
to kill
Black
people,
fueled
by a
racist
belief
in
so-called
replacement
theory.
On
Saturday,
the
authorities
say, he
opened
fire
outside
the
supermarket,
then
went
inside
and
continued
to shoot
shoppers
and
workers
before
surrendering
to the
police.
He has
pleaded
not
guilty
to
first-degree
murder
and
appeared
in court
on
Thursday.
Ms.
Rogers
told The
Buffalo
News
that she
had
called
911
while
hiding
from the
gunman,
whispering
on the
phone in
hopes of
eluding
his
notice.
The
dispatcher,
she
said,
had
admonished
her.
“She
was
yelling
at me,
saying,
‘Why are
you
whispering?
You
don’t
have to
whisper,’”
Ms.
Rogers
told The
News,
“and I
was
telling
her,
‘Ma’am,
he’s
still in
the
store.
He’s
shooting.
I’m
scared
for my
life. I
don’t
want him
to hear
me. Can
you
please
send
help?’
She got
mad at
me, hung
up in my
face.”
Ms.
Rogers,
33, told
The News
she then
called
her
boyfriend
and told
him to
call
911.
She
offered
a
similar
description
of
events
in a
separate
interview
with The
New York
Times,
saying
she had
been
standing
behind
the
store’s
customer
service
counter
when she
first
heard
gunfire.
After
ducking
down,
she
said,
she
pulled
out her
cellphone,
called
911 and
whispered
to the
dispatcher
that
someone
was
shooting
in the
store.
The
dispatcher
had
asked
why she
was
whispering,
and then
the
connection
broke,
Ms.
Rogers
said in
the
interview.
Mr.
Anderson,
the
spokesman
for the
Erie
County
executive,
Mark
Poloncarz,
said the
inquiry
had
involved
a review
of the
call and
that it
was
unclear
who had
hung up
on whom.
He also
said the
dispatcher’s
action
had not
affected
the
dispatching
of the
call.
At a
news
conference
on
Sunday,
Buffalo’s
police
commissioner,
Joseph
A.
Gramaglia,
said the
first
911 call
had come
in at
2:30
p.m. and
that
officers
had
arrived
at the
store at
2:31.
Madison
Ruffo, a
spokeswoman
for CSEA
Region
6, the
public
employees’
union
that
represents
the
dispatcher,
said its
policy
was not
to
comment
on
disciplinary
matters
or
active
investigations
involving
its
members.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I
HI TECH NEWS
I
SPORTS
I
