A District of Columbia dispatcher was disciplined after she shrugged off the call of a Capitol Hill East woman who reported that a group of teenagers assaulted her 70-year-old neighbor.
The incident happened earlier this month, when a woman who lives near 11th and G streets Southeast called 911 to report that a group of kids pushed and punched her elderly neighbor.
When the caller told the dispatcher the teenagers had fled and the neighbor and her husband chased them, the dispatcher reportedly said, “I guess if [the victim] needs us he will call us when he gets back,” according to an e-mail sent to D.C. Council Member Phil Mendelson by the Office of Unified Communications.
The dispatcher never reported the incident and police were never dispatched. The elderly man returned with a cut and bleeding hand.
Office of Unified Communications Chief of Staff Everett Lott said the operator will be disciplined and get more training. Lott would not identify the dispatcher or say what action the office would impose on her.
“We made a mistake,” Lott said. “We are just as appalled with this call as anyone should be.”
Mendelson, who reported the call to the dispatch office, said he was stunned by the way the call was handled, especially when police are constantly reminding residents to help them fight crime by reporting suspicious activity.
“That’s what happened here,” Mendelson said. “The woman called like she was supposed to and nobody came to help.”
