UPDATE: Claims about mishandling of 911 call in deadly Allentown fire are ‘categorically false,’ county says
Tasked with directing emergency phone calls where lives can be at stake, Lehigh County’s 911 center was a hub of racism and negligence that put callers and emergency personnel in danger, sometimes with deadly results, a new federal lawsuit alleges.
A Spanish-speaking man who called 911 to report his Allentown home was on fire was hung up on by a Lehigh County 911 dispatcher, the lawsuit alleges. The caller and his 14-year-old nephew died in the house blaze.
Seven now-former 911 dispatchers are suing Lehigh County, County Executive Phil Armstrong and six other current or former county officials, alleging their First Amendment and other constitutional rights were violated after they publicly aired the issues at the call center.
Calls for comment about the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, were referred to Lehigh County Solicitor Thomas Caffrey. He declined immediate comment because he not read the suit.
Attorney Fredrick E. Charles filed the suit on behalf of the seven plaintiffs. He could not be reached immediately for comment.
Plaintiffs Justin Zucal, David Gatens, Francis Gatens, John Kirchner, Emily Geiger, Julie Landis and Brandi DeLong Palmer are seeking reinstatement to their jobs, back pay, compensatory damages as well as damages for emotional distress, pain and suffering.
The lawsuit paints a damning picture of the call center, where Spanish-speaking callers were denied help and calls went unanswered when some operators slept on the job or played the beanbag-toss-game cornhole during work shifts.
The plaintiffs allege some white 911 dispatchers openly said they “do not like taking calls from Spanish people” and refused to use a call translation service to help with Spanish-speaking callers.
Certain dispatchers forced non-English speaking callers to communicate in English or be denied emergency assistance, according to the suit.
The 911 center’s “hostile environment” to minority and Spanish-speaking callers included the deadly Allentown house fire, according to the lawsuit.
Heriberto Santiago Jr. spoke Spanish when he dialed 911 on July 27, 2020, to report a fire in his home at 739 Fair St. in the city.
The lawsuit contends a county 911 dispatcher indicated she did not understand Spanish, told Santiago to speak English and then hung up on him.
Santiago and his nephew Andres Javier Ortiz died in the fire.
Some dispatchers and trainees slept during shifts or spent time on their cellphones or social media, leading to “countless calls” involving life-threatening emergencies going unanswered or sent to other dispatchers, the suit claims.
A dispatcher watched fireworks from the roof of the building in July 2020, and missed calls for emergency relief concerning reports of gunfire at that time in Lehigh County, the lawsuit says.
A center supervisor allegedly watched soap operas and other programs on a personal computer, sold cosmetics and used personal devices during work.
The plaintiffs allege one employee assaulted a co-worker, and that other coworkers transported and possessed weapons in the 911 call center.
One of the operators whose conduct is cited in the lawsuit works on a freelance basis for lehighvalleylive.com and The Express-Times, which is not naming the operators discussed in the suit because they are not defendants.
The former operators say they and other coworkers raised numerous issues about Allentown’s digital radio system that made it not fully functional, and put callers and first responders at risk.
Issues included calls that appeared to be received at the 911 center when they were not, and “numerous” police traffic stops and pursuit transmissions not being received, according to the suit.
Zucal and others raised concerns about fire calls, including 911 operators not monitoring channels used for working fires.
In some instances, the suit says, operators dispatched fire-related assistance calls to police before alerting fire or EMS crews. The lag between notifying police and then fire crews was as long as four minutes after calls for police assistance, the suit said.
Town halls were held on Aug. 26 and Dec. 10, 2019, to address the issues and concerns with county supervisors and the administration, including the defendants.
But county officials “neglected, ignored and refused to respond” to any of the complaints, according to court papers.
Instead, the dispatchers allege county officials planned to retaliate against them and terminate them from their jobs.
The suit says a center supervisor received permission from the former county director of emergency services for 911 center workers to share a small New Year’s Eve toast with a “coquito” eggnog mix, which contains alcohol, in 2019.
The same drink was given as gifts to participants in a “Secret Santa” Christmas party held during working hours on county property, the suit alleges.
But county disciplinary procedures says an employee can be immediately dismissed from their job for the “use, possession, sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages and/or illegal or unauthorized drugs during working hours,” court records say.
In January 2020, the plaintiffs say they were told they were being terminated for participating in the New Year’s Eve toast. The suit says the dispatchers were told they could resign as opposed to being terminated, which would “reflect positively” on them, and they could immediately re-apply for reinstatement.
Five of the plaintiffs submitted resignations, under the belief they would be re-hired after tendering a formal resignation and writing a resignation letter, the suit says.
The suit alleges none of the employees were terminated who were caught sleeping during working hours, nor were the employee who allegedly assaulted a co-worker or other county employees and officials who allegedly had alcohol or alcoholic beverages on county property.
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Sarah Cassi may be reached at [email protected].
CaseyJonesEnginsNear on October 24th, 2021 at 15:56 UTC »
This might be a coincidence but I was in the lehigh valley last week and my work phone accidentally called 911 when I put it in my bag (iPhone and it was pressing both side buttons). It took me a minute to realize and hang up. I didn’t get a call back or anything and thought it was really off for a 911 center not to call back or check in on why 911 was called.
alexrt87 on October 24th, 2021 at 14:05 UTC »
Rare case where the story is somehow even worse than the headline implies.
dhork on October 24th, 2021 at 13:52 UTC »
The article is worth reading. The lawsuit is not coming from this incident, but rather from a bunch of call center employees who complained that there were bad practices at the call center, including not wanting to use the translation services available to them. The employees were then fired on a technicality. The lawsuit over their termination is making these other allegations public.
Now that the allegation about the fire has been divulged as part of the lawsuit, though, I wonder if the family now has grounds to sue. Might have been much cheaper for the county if their employees just followed their procedures. (And also, you know, some people's lives would have been saved. Isn't that the whole point of 911?)
Edit: there's a link to another article at the top of this one claiming that the tapes of that incident were being reviewed by the county, the man spoke English, services were dispatched, and that the call "was disconnected". I wonder if those tapes will be reviewed by any third party, though.