Saskatoon police admit operators were in ‘neglect of duties’ on 911 call

SASKATOON – Police Chief Clive Weighill has apologized to a Saskatoon family after it took officers over an hour to respond to a 911 call. Weighill found three 911 operators were in “neglect of duties” on Aug. 28. when George Buxton suffered a medical emergency.

The vehicle being driven by Buxton then struck a parked car in the 900-block of 20th Street.

The first call to 911 came in a 5:19 a.m. CT. The caller told the operator the driver appeared to be passed out and was not certain if an ambulance was needed. The operator logged the call as a “Priority 4,” meaning the call is held until a district car is available. Fire and MD Ambulance were also not notified under the priority system.

The same person called 911 15 minutes later, which was taken by a second operator who noted it was a logged as a “Priority 4.” The operator told the caller a car would be sent as soon as possible.

At 5:40 a.m., a second person called 911 to report the collision, which was taken by the original operator, who said a car would attend as soon as possible.

Twenty minutes later, a call about the collision came in on the administration non-emergency line. This call was taken by a third operator, who noted the call was logged and police would attend.

Two minutes later, a final call was received on 911. This was also taken by the third operator, who was told the driver was not moving and may be dead. The operator upgraded the call to a “Priority 2.” Both MD Ambulance and the fire department were dispatched to the scene.

Under a “Priority 2,” a police unit would be rerouted from a less serious call or brought in from another district and the call transferred to both the fire department and MD Ambulance.

At 6:21 a.m. a police unit was dispatched and arrived at the scene five minutes later.

By this time, Buxton had already been transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

READ MORE: 911 response time reviewed following Saskatoon death

Police launched a review into the response time which is now complete.

Among the findings, it was determined the three operators were in neglect of duty and all should have asked more questions and erred on the side of caution.

Communication centre staff received written reprimands and more training will be provided.

According to Weighill’s report, he believes corrective changes have been put into place that will prevent a similar situation from happening in the future.

Sherri Van Der Veen contributed to this story