Dispatchers Confuse Calls, Victim Not Found

Fairfield County (Ohio) officials have disciplined two 911 dispatchers who mistakenly believed that two 911 calls were related, and didn’t send deputies to a section of rural road where a woman had been struck and killed by a passing vehicle. Susan Blade apparently ran out of gas, and was standing in or alongside a rural road when she was struck by a passing car. The driver of the car dialed 911 at 2 a.m. to say he/she might have struck something. At the same moment, another 911 caller reported horses loose in the roadway nearby. The dispatchers apparently believed the two calls were related, and did not send anyone to investigate. It wasn’t until several hours later that a passing state trooper discovered Blade’s body in the roadway. Sheriff Dave Phalen said the dispatchers were reprimanded for their inaction. Read more here.