Boy's 911 calls dismissed as jokes - Mom dies!

[Klash]

TweetI would want to kill someone if this happened to my son!

Five-year-old Robert Turner's mother had collapsed on the floor, and he was scared, but he knew what to do. He called 911 for help.

Even so, the Detroit boy was twice scolded by a dispatcher who told him to stop playing around.

ON DEADLINE BLOG: Hear the calls

Now Michigan lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, calling the mishandling of 911 calls in Detroit an "endemic" problem, says he'll file a lawsuit today over the Feb. 20 death of Sherill Turner, whose enlarged heart took her life at 46.

"We've alleged wrongful death and infliction of emotional distress," Fieger said in an interview Sunday. Even though Robert knew calling 911 was the right thing to do, Fieger said, "he had to sit there while his mom died in front of him."

When Robert called 911 and reported that his mother had passed out, a dispatcher asked to talk to an adult. At one point, "she hanged up on me," Robert, who turned 6 last month, said Friday.

A recording of the 911 call, provided by the family to the Detroit Free Press, indicates the operator hung up on the boy after saying she would send police to the home.

When the boy called back three hours later, the dispatcher told him he "shouldn't be playing on the phone." The dispatcher said at one point, according to the tapes, "Now put her (his mother) on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you going to be in trouble."

Turner was dead when police eventually arrived.

Delaina Patterson, the oldest of Turner's 10 surviving children and the representative of her estate, said several friends had urged her to call Fieger, who is best known for defending assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.

"Because the city of Detroit hasn't covered this up, maybe there's a possibility that they'll come forward and attempt to resolve this matter," Fieger said.

In 1989, Detroit paid $3.6 million in a civil settlement over the death of Peggy Saffold, whose relatives called police four times in 2½ hours about an ex-boyfriend who was threatening to kill her. Police never arrived. Saffold was killed and two of her family members were wounded.

On Friday, Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said the department was investigating the Turner case and declined to comment further because of possible legal action.

Kimberly Harris, president of the local union of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, defended one unnamed dispatcher involved. "If I had an emergency, I would want her to be on the other end of the line," said Harris, who is also a 911 operator. "I will swear to that."

Harris said that more than 25% of calls that 911 operators receive are pranks and that Robert's voice was inaudible at times.

Contributing: Wire reports and the Detroit Free Press

[Lily]

Tweet That is awful!

[supasaiyan99]

TweetThis is so tragic!!! That dispatcher should get fired! I think every call should be taken seriously and if the police arrive and it's not then fine the child's parents and send the kid to JDC to teach him a lesson!

[daved150]

Tweet...DONT SURPRIZE ME. THIS WHOLE STATE IS IN THE WEEDS AS FAR AS MONEY AND SERVICES GOES, BUT DETROIT IS THE WORST! THIS HAPPENED BACK IN FEB. I'M SURPRIZED IT'S JUST GETTING OUT NOW. VERY TRAGIC. FIEGER WILL EAT DETROIT ALIVE!! THEY BETTER TRY TO SETTLE...

[BIGMOFO]

Tweet

...DONT SURPRIZE ME. THIS WHOLE STATE IS IN THE WEEDS AS FAR AS MONEY AND SERVICES GOES, BUT DETROIT IS THE WORST! THIS HAPPENED BACK IN FEB. I'M SURPRIZED IT'S JUST GETTING OUT NOW. VERY TRAGIC. FIEGER WILL EAT DETROIT ALIVE!! THEY BETTER TRY TO SETTLE...

thats why you should mover your ass back down here boy!!!!!!

[daved150]

Tweet

thats why you should mover your ass back down here boy!!!!!!

WE ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THAT OVER THE WEEKEND...BUT, I DONT KNOW IF I COULD GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! THE HOUSI9NG MARKET UP HERE IS TANKED BRO!!!

[Fit2bLarge]

Tweetdispatcher fired? they should hold her on involuntary man-slaughter. she had a direct effect on that persons death.

[kite]

Tweet

dispatcher fired? they should hold her on involuntary man-slaughter. she had a direct effect on that persons death.

No doubt.

[sunnshine_ahead]

Tweet I saw that on the news last night...so tragic, the little boy was crying - I felt so bad for him.

[daved150]

Tweet

dispatcher fired? they should hold her on involuntary man-slaughter. she had a direct effect on that persons death.

ACTUALLY BRO, UP HERE, I THINK LOCAL NEWS SAID SHE WAS RE-ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER AREA...

[zitech]

TweetDUMBASSHOLE PIECE OF SHIT POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!