Read Full Article | View Source
An Allentown man and his 14-year-old nephew died in a fire in July 2020 because a Lehigh County 911 dispatcher did not understand his pleas for help in Spanish and hung up the call, a federal lawsuit by a group of former dispatchers alleges.
The seven supervisors and dispatchers who say they were fired for reporting mismanagement in the dispatch center also allege they saw dispatchers and supervisors sleeping on the job, doing outside work, watching movies so loudly they drowned out emergency communications, playing cornhole during working hours and other misconduct. In another instance, a dispatcher missed emergency calls related to shootings because he went to the roof of the county administration building to watch fireworks, the suit says.
The lawsuit alleges Spanish-speaking callers were often denied help because some 911 dispatchers said they “do not like taking calls from Spanish people”… READ MORE
