Provo releases report on bungled 911 callBy Michael N. Westley
Article Last Updated: 08/16/2005 12:18:16 AM
The Salt Lake Tribune
Provo city officials have maintained from the beginning that the findings of an independent review in the death of Scott Aston were confidential.
But on Monday, after months of requests by Aston's family and the news media to review the report, Provo released the details of the investigation.
The report paints a vivid description of the events - many of which the city has admitted were mistakes - that failed to lead paramedics to the 30-year-old Provo man when he called 911 from his cell phone on Oct. 1.
"I was pretty nervous to read it," said Aston's sister, Carol Davis. "But I was relieved that it wasn't worse."
Aston died sometime in the days following the bungled call in which dispatchers sent emergency crews to the wrong address and then failed to follow protocol that could have led paramedics to his door. Aston was found dead in his apartment four days later by a police officer investigating an unattended death. An autopsy did not reveal how he died.
The decision to go public with the report was reached on Thursday as city officials worked with the family through mediation to settle their differences. The family filed a notice of claim for a wrongful death suit against Provo on May 2. Provo agreed to pay Aston's family $220,000 in return for a release of all future claims or disparagement, according to city documents.
The report's release was, "part of the closure that was necessary not only for the family but also for the community," said Provo spokeswoman Raylene Ireland.
The report, which Provo asked the Ogden Police Department to compile, reveals 10 instances in which mistakes were made during Aston's call.
"There is no evidence of deliberate malfeasance on the part of any employees of Provo city . . . the incident does not demonstrate a history of procedural errors on the part of the Provo Police Department's Dispatch Center," reads the report. "Both the call taker and the dispatcher committed small, seemingly insignificant errors which, when added together, compounded the results."
The call taker was criticized for not following protocols in gathering adequate information and for editorializing on Aston's condition. When relayed to the dispatcher, the severity of Aston's situation was diminished, which contributed to a premature termination of emergency crews efforts to find him, according to the report.
Davis said the report's findings were fairly close to what the city had already released about the incident.
"I was surprised by some of the statements of people that worked there," she said. The call taker was fired. The dispatcher was disciplined.
The report also suggested six areas in which procedural reform was necessary. Those changes, according to Davis, are what the family has been fighting for.
"This has never been about economic gain. I am hoping that things are changed and that my brother's death was a motivating factor in all of that. I hope that no other family has to feel what we've been through."
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