A suburban Chicago 911 dispatcher who allegedly mishandled a call from a man who drowned after his SUV plunged into a retention pond was reportedly suspended.
Dawn Brezwyn, a Northwest Central Dispatch worker, was on vacation weeks earlier when her boss requested all dispatchers review water rescue protocols, according to the Chicago Tribune.
She was given a three-day suspension after an internal inquiry and received addition training, the Tribune reported.
Transcripts from the call on July 25 by 89-year-old Henry Laseke show the Arlington Heights man urging rescuers to hurry because his vehicle was sinking.
Brezwyn repeatedly tries to calm Laseke, assuring him that help was on the way and asks for information about his SUV. But the veteran dispatcher never asks if he can open a window or if he's able to escape.
Officials with the agency, which handles 911 calls for 11 communities in Chicago's northwestern suburbs, said their inquiry was to determine “whether all standards and protocols were met.”
The agency’s inquiry found that Brezwyn repeatedly entered the wrong codes into the dispatch system, fumbled with a computer program and didn’t use appropriate resources to guide the call, the Tribune reported.
No other employees were disciplined in the incident.
