Buffalo dispatcher fired over handling of 911 shooting call
An emergency services dispatcher in Buffalo, N.Y., who was accused of hanging up on a 911 call from a supermarket employee during the racist shooting rampage last month has been fired, an official said.
The dispatcher, who has not been publicly identified, was fired last week in a disciplinary hearing, the official, Peter Anderson, a spokesperson for the Erie County executive, said in an email to the New York Times.
The investigation was prompted by comments made by an employee at the Tops supermarket, where a white gunman killed 10 Black people on May 14 in one of the worst racist mass shootings in recent U.S. history.
Latisha Rogers, an assistant office manager at the supermarket, told the Buffalo News that she had called 911 while hiding inside the store and was whispering on the phone to avoid the gunman’s attention. She said the dispatcher admonished her for speaking quietly on the call.
“She was yelling at me, saying, ‘Why are you whispering? You don’t have to whisper,’” Rogers told the News, “and I was telling her, ‘Ma’am, he’s still in the store. He’s shooting. I’m scared for my life. I don’t want him to hear me. Can you please send help?’ She got mad at me, hung up in my face.” At a news conference last month, the county executive, Mark Poloncarz, said the handling of the call was “completely unacceptable.” A transcript of the call has not been released. The man accused of carrying out the Buffalo shooting, Payton Gendron, 18, was indicted by a grand jury on 25 counts, including murder and domestic terrorism. He pleaded not guilty.