Dispatcher Resigns After Murder, City Faces Lawsuit

The Dallas (Tex.) police dispatcher who fielded a call from a woman who was later murdered by her husband has resigned, even as the city continues to face a lawsuit from the victim’s family. Tonyita Hopkins took the 911 call in last August from Deanna Cook, and a later police investigation determined that Hopkins failed to enter certain information into the police department’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system which would have prompted a quicker and more thorough response. Instead, it took 10 minutes for a dispatcher to send an officer to Cook’s apartment, and it took the officer 50 minutes to arrive. The officer checked the outside of the building, but never attempted to go inside. Cook’s body was discovered two days later by her family, and her husband was later arrested for murder. In the lawsuit filed in federal court, the family says the police department failed to protect Cook, that Hopkins and dispatcher Johnnye Wakefeld mishandled 911 calls, and that dispatcher Yamnah Shani Mitchell failed  to promptly dispatch the incident to officers. Hopkins was later suspended without pay for 10 days, and then was reassigned to the police department’s property room. Last Tuesday she resigned from the police department. Her family released a statement: “For legal reasons, we have been advised not to speak publicly but, when the time is right, we would love to share our side of the story.” The police department’s comm center has been the subject of complaints lately, both from citizens and former dispatchers. Download (pdf) the family’s complaint, the city’s response and selected other documents in the case. Update: A second incident came to light in late Nov., where a drug overdose patient died because of a miscommunication over two similar incidents at the same apartment complex.