Officer Dies, Dispatcher Partly to Blame

The Aurora (Colo.) police department investigation has placed partial blame for the death of an officer on an unnamed dispatcher who failed to provide Off. Doug Byrne with full information about the incident to which he was responding. The investigators also blamed Byrne, who was traveling between 56 and 65 mph and without a seatbelt, and without emergency lights or siren when his patrol car flipped and ejected him. Bryne was responding to a report of a man suffering a seizure. But the internal report found that the dispatcher failed to tell Byrne that paramedics were already on-scene, a fact that might have affected the speed of his response. “Had Officer Byrne known that Fire EMS was already on the scene and rendering medical aid, he may have chosen to respond at a slower speed and in a more controlled manner,” the investigators concluded. Officials say that procedures now require dispatchers to communicate the arrival of EMS units to any responding police officers. Download (pdf) the full report here, read the details, and draw your own conclusions.