Make wishtv.com your home page

Lake County 911 fires 1, suspends 1 over call for help

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) – A northwestern Indiana emergency dispatching agency has fired one employee and suspended another after a man was found dead in a Gary church hours after calling 911 for help.

The (Munster) Times reports Lake County’s E-911 department announced Friday it had fired six-year-veteran emergency dispatcher Sherrie Williams over the mishandling of a June 6 emergency call for medical services made by off-duty transit police officer Burt Sanders of Gary.

The agency says another dispatcher, Vanessa Reese, was given a three-day suspension.

Sanders called 911 seeking help about 2 a.m. June 6 and was found dead inside a Gary church several hours later by a relative.

A telephone message seeking comment was left at a home listed in Reese’s name. Williams doesn’t have a published home number in Crown Point.