A Florida woman having a medical emergency called 911, but she died with no help while the police deputy assigned to assist her was allegedly too busy finishing his lunch.
Lee County Deputy Yvan Fernandez was fired for failing to respond to a 911 call because an internal report found he was busy wolfing pizza and wings. The woman died before police arrived, which sparked the investigation that led to the deputy’s dismissal, ABC 7 reports.
Gwendolyn Minnis called police during what friends believe was a heart attack but could not speak to the dispatcher, likely because of her condition. The dispatcher asked Fernandez to answer the call and contacted him multiple times.
An internal report on the incident revealed that Fernandez was having lunch with three other deputies at a pizza and wings joint when the call came. He allegedly acknowledged the dispatcher, but just wouldn’t get out of his seat to go check it out.
Thirty minutes later, Fernandez finally motivated himself enough to instruct a different deputy to investigate. Minnis was found dead by her front door a full 50 minutes after she called police.
The report points out that Fernandez was not on an official meal break that would have exempted him from answering calls. Fernandez said he believed the response time was “satisfactory.”
Minnis’ family told ABC 7 they will wait until reviewing the report before deciding what to do next.
“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,” Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott, who said Fernandez is the only officer who showed negligence, told Fox 4.
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