Woman On Phone Dies After 911 Operator Mistake

By D.L. BENNETT, MARCUS K. GARNER / http://www.ajc.com/ / on: 08/05/08

Darlene Dukes died waiting for help that was delayed 25 minutes because a 911 operator sent emergency crews to the wrong address, Fulton County officials said.

And her family, flown down from New York, was angry Tuesday night to learn of the mix-up from local media and not from officials.

The 911 operator has been fired, said Alfred "Rocky" Moore, Fulton's 911 director. And county officials are apologizing for an error they say should not have been made. The incident occurred Saturday about 1 p.m. when Dukes called 911 for help.
The operator, whose name was not released, dispatched crews to Wells Street in Atlanta when Dukes was at home on Wales Street in Johns Creek north of Atlanta. Moore said the operator misheard the address spoken by Dukes, 39, who was "in respiratory distress."

The operator should have noticed, Moore said, the call came from a cell tower in north Fulton, not Atlanta. "We are taking action against the employee," Moore said. "It's warranted."

Moore said the operator stayed on the phone with Dukes for 25 minutes waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Dukes fell silent 17 minutes into the call. The remaining eight minutes the operator spends imploring Dukes to respond, Moore said. Johns Creek authorities responded within five minutes once the error was discovered, Moore said. By then, though, it was too late.

Dukes has two sons, ages 15 and 11, but neither was at home at the time. A Web designer for Verizon, she moved to Atlanta from New York City 4 1/2 years ago.

Her father, Levern Dukes Sr., and mother, Ida, were told she died of a pulmonary embolism, but they did not know that 911 was responsible for a delayed response to her call until reporters began calling them Tuesday evening. A press release from Fulton County's Office of Community Relations was sent to news media at 6 p.m. Tuesday describing the incident and noting that an investigation into the incident is under way.

Ida Dukes, her mother, asked, "What happened to my daughter? Something went wrong and I would like to find out. If they had responded timely, would she be alive today?" Darlene Dukes' family -- her parents, two bothers and a sister -- came down from the Bronx on Sunday to learn more about her death, which they found puzzling because she was otherwise healthy. Levern Dukes, her father, said "If she was sick, she never complained." Derrick Dukes, her brother, said, "To say that Darlene could still be here, I would really hate to think that something went wrong."

Darlene Dukes will be buried Saturday in New York. A memorial service for her friends in Atlanta will be announced later, her family said.
Moore said his operator was distraught about the mistake and her long phone call with Dukes.
"She's not taking it well," Moore said. "We are taking action against the employee regardless of how hard it is."

The mistake, Moore said, is one that should not have happened. Operators, he said, are trained to listen to folks in distress but also to focus on where cell calls come from. The operator, he said, should have recognized the discrepancy and asked questions, Moore said.

Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker called the situation "sad." "Anytime you have loss of life it's sad," Bodker said. "You can move that out to the parents, the loved ones, the friends. It's just sad for everyone."

The case also underscores one of many areas of potential conflict for Fulton as new cities spring up and services have to adjust. Two years ago, Fulton was pushing the consolidation of all 911 services among the county and its cities. But they couldn't get enough jurisdictions to agree.
Johns Creek, Bodker said, should vote within the next few months on taking over 911 services for its residents. He hopes a city-run call center could be up by early 2009.

Bodker said he's long believed a consolidated service makes more sense but doesn't have faith in Fulton County to control it.