Overview
- Multiple 911 calls began on July 27 when a medical alert operator phoned about a disturbance and later connected live audio that an operator said sounded like a man kicking an elderly woman, yet emergency crews did not arrive for nearly three hours.
- The Department of Emergency Communications completed an internal review and announced on August 26 that two call takers have resigned and the dispatcher involved will receive additional training.
- A 23-year-old, Joseph Guadalupe Macias, has been charged with battery to an elder causing great bodily harm, first-degree reckless injury and burglary, and court records say the 99-year-old victim suffered broken jaw bones, severe bruising and multiple lacerations.
- DEC Director Tony Bueno defended the department’s training program as meeting national benchmarks and said the agency is pursuing accreditation, while officials declined to explain at the briefing why initial calls were not elevated in priority.
- The department has not released the full investigative report and says it will publish the findings after procedural and personnel reviews, a step that could determine whether further discipline or policy changes are needed and affect public trust in 911 operations.