Deputy fired for not responding to 911 to eat lunch

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Sara Belsole - FOX 4


FORT MYERS, Fla. - A Lee County deputy is off the job after an internal report reveals he didn't respond to a 911 call so he could eat lunch.

The investigation surrounds a 911 call from a home on Dryden Circle on March 13th. The caller wasn't speaking, so dispatch alerted Deputy Yvan Fernandez.

But instead of responding, reports show Fernandez went to eat lunch instead. The woman caller was having a medical emergency and later died.

"He made a decision at that moment of time that his lunch and what he had on his personal plate, pun intended I suppose, was more important than that 911 call," Sheriff Mike Scott said.

GPS tracking on his patrol car put Fernandez at Raider's Pizza and Wings on Palm Beach Boulevard six minutes before he was dispatched at 1:11 p.m. At 1:19, dispatch updated Fernandez about the call and he responded "copy." At 1:40 p.m. Fernandez asked another deputy who met him for lunch to take the call, who got to the home on Dryden Circle at 2:04 p.m. Fernandez finished his lunch and stopped at another location to use the restroom, getting to the home at 2:21 p.m.

"Could we have saved this lady? I'll never be able to answer that question. Would getting there quicker have hurt anything? Of course not," Scott said.

When interviewed about what happened, Fernandez said he called the 911 caller several times, but she didn't answer. He then decided to return to his lunch, telling investigators he "believed this type of response and response time was satisfactory."

[deebakes]

he called and the lady didn't answer so that means you don't go to investigate?