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Quintonio LeGrier
Two Chicago 911 dispatchers have been suspended without pay for not sending authorities to the residence where Quintonio LeGrier was requesting assistance, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The 19-year-old called 911 from his father’s apartment three times the morning of Dec. 26 requesting assistance and was hung up on twice. However, when authorities were finally dispatched, one of the responding officers, Robert Rialmo, shot and killed the teen, who the officer says was coming at him with a bat. Rialmo also shot and killed a neighbor, 55-year-old Bettie Jones, who was an innocent bystander during the entire incident.
According to the Tribune, one of the call takers from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications was given a three-day suspension for not dispatching someone when the teen made his first call at 4:18 a.m., in which he claimed that his life was being threatened. LeGrier made a second call shortly after, at 4:20 a.m. That call taker was also suspended, though only for one day, for failing to send out a squad car.
Only on the teen’s third call, at 4:21 a.m., did a different OEMC dispatcher send out the authorities. Another call was made at 4:24 a.m., this time by LeGrier’s father, Antonio LeGrier, who said that his son was trying to break into his bedroom with a baseball bat.
The families of both LeGrier and Jones have filed lawsuits against Rialmo and the city for the shooting. Rialmo, for his part, has countersued LeGrier’s estate for more than $10 million in damages, claiming trauma.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune.
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