The internal investigation following a group of four people being rescued from the Mad River after being stranded on a log on June 13. The following day, one of the people who was rescued called the sheriff’s office to inquire about issuing a “formal complaint” about a dispatcher’s conduct during a 911 call, according to sheriff’s office records.
The caller contacted emergency services after she and her friends were stuck in the water and needed assistance getting out. The caller told the dispatcher that she thought she and her friends were located by Forest Lake, according to sheriff’s office records.
“I’m trying to figure out where you are because you guys are little liars,” the dispatcher told the caller. The dispatcher then disconnected the call and did not make a record of the call.
A dispatch manager, Nicole Elliott, wrote on the incident to Clark County Sheriff’s Office administrators.
“[Her] actions on the first call not only delayed response by the first responders, but also put the lives of the four victims in more danger by disconnecting the call,” Elliott said.
The manager also noted that the dispatcher’s actions were “against all policy and procedure,” according to her note to administrators.
Clark County Sheriff Deb Burchett’s review of the internal investigation found that the dispatcher “committed numerous and potentially serious work rule violations while handling the 911 call related to” the June 13 water rescue.
The dispatcher resigned prior to any pre-disciplinary hearing or any employee discipline was issued, according to sheriff’s office records.
