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North Port’s mishandled 911 call…and doing the right thing
Recently, the city of North Port came under fire for the mishandling of a 911 call. A local teenager, driving in a remote area of North Port, saw a man outside of his vehicle. He could not tell if the man was hurt, and was afraid to go closer to see…which is understandable, as it was dark and he was basically in the middle of nowhere. So he drove to the nearest store and called 911. While speaking to the dispatcher, he was not able to recall the name of the street, but knew that the word “Love” (he thought it was Lovesong, or Lovebird, turns out it was Lovering) was in it, and that it was directly off of N Sumter Blvd. The dispatcher claimed to not be able to find the street, and when asked to send a patrol car out, said that without the name of the street, she could not do so. The next day, the teenager returned to the area, and found that the man was still there, laying beside his truck. He had a neighbor call 911, and this time received a response. But it was too late, Brian Wood had died. Was he alive at the time of the first call? We don’t know, and may never know. But….he might have been.
It was hard for me to watch North Port go through this, they had done everything right during the 911 calls received during Denise Amber Lee’s abduction. I’ve grown to really like Chief Terry Lewis. He cares about North Port, and he cares about people. I’ve seen him interact with Denise’s sons, and you can just tell that he CARES. I’ve got a ton of respect for him.
Well, now I have more. After a brief investigation, Chief Lewis terminated the dispatcher who took the call. And apologized to the family of Brian Wood. He accepted responsibility for the dispatcher’s mistake. He didn’t try to brush it under the rug, or make excuses. His dispatcher screwed up, and he took care of it. As should be done in a case like this.
Story below.
Police chief fires dispatcher in mishandled 911 call
NORTH PORT — North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis was overcome with emotion Tuesday as he announced he had fired one of his 911 operators for mishandling a critical call.
Lewis said Nadia Kashitskaya, 25, violated two city policies by not sending an officer to check on the well-being of Brian Wood, 55, who crashed his Chevy truck late Dec. 11 in a desolate, wooded area on Lovering Avenue in North Port Estates.
Mark Mininci Jr., 19, who originally called 911 at 11:36 p.m. when he saw Wood slumped over on the ground next to his truck, returned more than 18 hours later and found Wood still there. He went to a nearby house and asked residents there to call 911 again.
Police responded and found Wood, the longtime owner of Suncoast V-Twin motorcycle repair in North Port, was dead.
“Ms. Kashitskaya violated department policy by not following mandates as to asking the basic questions as stated in our Telephone Procedures Policy and was negligent in her job duties by not sending an officer to either meet with the caller or to the area where the caller described seeing a man outside his truck,” Lewis said during a Tuesday press conference.
Lewis, who hired Kashitskaya, said judging the dispatcher by the short snippet of the 911 recording doesn’t show her overall job performance.
“Ms. Kashitskaya was an excellent employee, but she made a mistake,” he said, his voice cracking. “I am sorry to the family of Brian Wood … We have the highest responsibility to the citizens of North Port.”
Citizen safety and confidence in the 911 system is paramount, Lewis said. He asked two outside agencies to step in to review training procedures at the NPPD, including the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials.
“Our operators have 600 hours of training,” Lewis said adding that the first 480 are spent with someone else, like a supervisor.
According to an Internal Affairs investigation, Kashitskaya, when asked why she did not send an officer, said she believed the call was for a suspicious vehicle since “nothing was said as to what the man was doing outside the truck and there did not appear to be an emergency in the caller’s voice.”
Mininci had trouble remembering the exact street name where Wood was, calling it “Lovebird” or “Lovesong,” in the 911 call, but gave accurate directions, including going to North Sumter Boulevard, which leads to the street.
Kashitskaya said she “put her faith in the assumption that the caller would go back and get the correct name of the street.”
However, according to the 911 call, Mininci told the operator he did not “feel comfortable” going back. He asked that a patrol car be sent instead.
“I took it at face value that he was going to call back,” Kashitskaya told investigators.
Kashitskaya could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
Auvia Holmes, 18, who was with Mininci when he made the 911 call said she didn’t think the operator was taking him seriously.
She said the two panicked because they didn’t know if the man they saw was alive and just passed out, or if he needed medical attention. The two had also been “partying,” Holmes said.
“We didn’t want to touch him,” Holmes said in an earlier interview with the Sun.
In conducting a location check within the NPPD computer system, Capt. Bob Estrada entered the words “Salford” and “Love,” and the location Lovering and North Salford appeared instantly, the investigation shows.
Lewis said Kashitskaya could appeal the decision. He called the tragedy “human error.”
Following the press conference, Wood’s longtime friend and motorcycle riding buddy Buzz Gordon said he respected Lewis’ decision.
“There’s nothing wrong with the 911 system,” Gordon said, adding he is a former state trooper and vice agent. “The chief believed in what he had to do to correct the problem. He grabbed the bull by the horns. The operator made a decision that cost her her job.”
Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron said he understands Lewis had an “extremely difficult” decision in terminating an employee.
The CCSO came under fire in January 2008 after a 911 call taker failed to send help to the Toledo Blade Boulevard area in search of Denise Amber Lee. Law enforcement was looking for the 21-year-old North Port mother of two, who had been kidnapped by Michael King.
Witness Jane Kowalski gave detailed information about a suspicious Camaro with a person inside screaming and banging on the back window — which later proved to be Denise. Her remains were found just off of Toledo Blade two days later.
That 911 call taker was given a three-day suspension for not sending any help. Another call center staff member was also suspended in the incident.
“I know it’s a rough position to be in,” Cameron said Tuesday. “I can not compare what happened in North Port to what happened to us. I don’t know any of the details in the North Port incident. I know the chief labored over his decision.”
Denise Lee’s father is Rick Goff, a nearly 27-year employee of the CCSO.
“We were dealing with an internal investigation and someone who is part of our law enforcement family,” Cameron said. “It’s so hard for everyone, including the call takers. It’s something they play over and over in their head — if they could roll back the clock and do things all over again.”
Denise’s widower, Nathan Lee, filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against the CCSO in her death. The case is expected to continue into the new year. Nathan believes former CCSO sheriff John Davenport and Cameron, who was second in command at the time, “mishandled” discipline of the 911 telecommunication operators involved on the night Denise died. He said the pair didn’t apologize to his or Denise’s family for the botched call.
“Chief Lewis showed professionalism that we all expect from our law enforcement,” Nathan said Tuesday. “He held the dispatcher accountable for her actions and showed true compassion for the family, and apologized in the appropriate fashion.”
Wood’s biker friends are planning a memorial ride from Johny’s B Good in Port Charlotte at 10 a.m. on Jan. 16. The ride will go to the American Legion in North Port Estates, past the marker where Wood died, and end at Will’s Honky Tonk in Englewood. The event is also a fundraising benefit for Wood’s daughters, ages 18 and 24.
E-mail: eallen@sun-herald.com
By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
North Port Community News Editor
Let’s hope the New Year brings less abductions and pain.
I am familiar with this case and know beyond doubt that he was very much alive until Saturday. Had Nadia followed through in any way, he would most likely still be alive. The most frustrating part of this story is that, since the firing, Nadia is suing to get her job back and is requesting back pay.