Indiana Man Dies As Ambulance Arrived 50 Minutes After 911 Call
(CBS) -- An ambulance took 50 minutes to arrive at the home of an elderly man in Griffith, Indiana who called for help. It was too late and he died.
CBS 2's Brad Edwards has more on the critical mistakes.
The man called 911 and a dispatch was sent, but to the wrong block, a problem that took 50 minutes to resolve.
"We want to make sure that this type of thing never happens in Lake County again," said Griffith Police Chief Greg Mance. "Obviously, it's a new dispatch center. There's going to be issues but we can't afford to have any type of issue where someone would lose their life."
The man, in his eighties, lived on the second floor of a building and told the dispatcher he lived at 827 Lillian Street. The paramedics were sent to 327 Lillian Street.
"I was told by the director that it was a dispatcher error," Mance said.
This comes as municipalities in Lake County have consolidated their dispatch services. In June one dispatcher was fired and another suspended when off-duty officer Burt Sanders died. He called 911 saying he had chest pains. When paramedics responded to the church where he was working, they were cleared because they couldn't get in. His niece Carletha Sutton found him the next day.
We're told the elderly man lived alone and not all his family is yet aware.
The dispatcher is a nine-year-veteran who has been placed on administrative leave until investigation is complete.
