Trainee Tells 911 Caller ‘Go Back Inside’

EMS officials in Lee County (Fla.) say they have “dealt with” a dispatcher-in-training who instructed a 911 caller to return inside a house where she had just found two dead bodies. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found a husband, wife and 1 year-old boy dead, apparently from a murder suicide. Officials admit the unnamed dispatcher improperly told the babysitter who discovered the two adults to “go back inside and check the rooms and see if you can find that baby. I need you to go back inside right now.” Officials explained that the dispatcher-trainee was being monitored by a veteran dispatcher. However, that person had briefly walked away and no one was listening to the trainee’s calls when the 911 call rang in. County EMS public information officer Diane Holm also said that the female victim was an EMT, and that the calltaker personally knew the victim. She said that personal connection may have affected the calltaker’s judgement, leading to the improper instructions to the caller. Holm said it’s unclear why other dispatchers in the center didn’t step in to monitor the 911 call. Download (pdf) a transcript of the call here, and read more about the incident here.