Fla. Dispatcher Reprimanded After Phone Remark

The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) has given one of its dispatchers a verbal reprimand for an inappropriate remark made during a conversation with an allied agency dispatcher, and related to a DUI driver who later sideswiped another vehicle, killing the driver. The FHP gave no details about the female dispatcher who talked with a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office dispatcher last March, relaying information from a caller who was following the suspected DUI driver along I-295. The witness had called several times, prompting several calls between the two agencies. During one call, the FHP dispatcher remarked, “I wish that guy would go home.” It’s not clear if dispatcher was referring to the witness or the DUI suspect. Several minutes later the weaving vehicle crashed into another vehicle, sending it over the bridge guard rail and into the St. Johns River at about 10 p.m. Divers later found the vehicle in 45 feet of water and recovered the body of the 41 year-old female driver. Listen (mp3) to the inter-agency telephone call.