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To: ArmstedFragg
Infliction of emotional distress has to be one-sided and intentional. This is more a ‘mutual combat’ situation. As far as false arrest goes, review the tape. The reporter is claiming there is no such charge as “abusing 911”. Even if you accept that as true, and it’s pretty far fetched since almost every state has a similar charge, there were two charges filed, and the officer clearly had justification for a good faith belief that she was causing a disturbance in the station. That negates the false arrest claim.

Perhaps... but those are questions of fact that should be determined by a jury. I disagree about "mutual combat" situation where the 911 dispatcher was willfully refusing to provide service and hanging up. I assure you my language on subsequent calls would have been far more abusive to the idiot who was refusing to listen unless I comported to his idea of telephone etiquette. This officer was supposed to be performing a DUTY, not an optional service, and failed miserably in doing that duty which could have resulted in the loss of life. The first coherent comment addressed TO the officer by the caller was a proper request for an ambulance, establishing that it was a call that required emergency response, and providing the information about where to send it. His response was to change the priority of the call to one about proper 911 phone etiquette. That is not exercising his duty.

98 posted on 05/08/2009 1:11:29 PM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
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To: Swordmaker
who was refusing to listen unless I comported to his idea of telephone etiquette.

...and if that was your conclusion from the transcript, you'd be wrong. What he began trying to do, which is what you always do with an upset caller, is to get her to slow down and give you the information you need. You don't just dispatch based on someone yelling an address at you. First, Lincoln Park apparently uses a phone triage system where all 911 calls go to the police department. If the police determine it's a fire or medical emergency, they then transfer the call to what is probably a central dispatch facility for fire and medical. So, you can hear the guy tell her to slow down, and she responds by cussing at him. It's not her use of language that prompts him to hang up, it's that she's being combative when he's trying to get the information. It's still not the right action to take, but if you really want to take the time to understand what happened it's important not to mischaracterise the interaction.

109 posted on 05/08/2009 1:27:57 PM PDT by ArmstedFragg (hoaxy dopey changey)
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