Copyright 2006 Times Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
CLEARWATER — Paramedics knew the address, knew the woman who lived there. She had dialed 911 several times, repeatedly saying she had been raped, even naming the president and other national figures as her attackers.
So when she called 911 in March 2005 and reported a rape, paramedic Trevor Murray didn’t believe it, he says. Asked by the 911 dispatcher to go to the woman’s house, Murray chose instead to stay at the fire station.
Murray’s quick decision to brush off the 911 call cost him his job and his paramedic’s license.
Now, he wants both back. He filed a grievance against the city of Clearwater, seeking reinstatement as a paramedic, a job he held for nine years.
In nine hours of testimony this week at his arbitration hearing, Murray apologized, but he also defended his decision. The city, on the other hand, isn’t budging. His actions were unforgiveable, officials said.
Murray said he made a judgment call. He knew police had been called to the house, too. “They would call us if they needed us,” Murray testified Tuesday. His fire station was just two minutes away.
But city and county emergency officials say no paramedic has that discretion and that ignoring a 911 call — any 911 call — crushes the public trust.
It turned out that the woman was indeed the same one who had called before. And police determined she had not been assaulted.
But Murray and his partner were dispatched simply to an address — albeit one they had responded to before.
What if another woman had been calling from that address?
“This is no clearer example to me of patient abandonment,” said Fire Chief Jamie Geer, who testified prior to Murray.
Murray and partner Mike Jones were sleeping shortly before 5:30 a.m. March 26, 2005, when an alarm sounded at their fire station, near Clearwater Mall.
The men went to their rescue truck, turned on the battery and heard the radio call. A woman at an address they quickly recognized said she had been raped while she was sleeping. The dispatcher noted that 911 operators had received similar calls from the same address two months earlier.
Murray said he and Jones immediately knew who was calling.
Firefighters in Clearwater called her a “frequent flier,” said Lt. Wendy Cason, who testified Tuesday on Murray’s behalf. Murray said he had taken the woman to a hospital three times previously when she said she had been raped. None of her claims had been true.
“It’s a little scary,” Murray said about interacting with the woman, whose name was withheld by the city. He said the first time he responded to a call from her, she said she couldn’t go to Morton Plant Hospital because a judge was waiting there to attack her.
So, when he saw her address that March morning, he decided to stay at the fire station. And he informed none of his supervisors.
David Lock, quality assurance manager for the Pinellas County medical director, testified that he had never heard of a paramedic failing to respond to a 911 call. The medical director, who oversees emergency medical operations countywide, suspended Murray’s and Jones’ paramedics licenses indefinitely as a result. Without a license, neither can work as a paramedic in Pinellas.
Geer, Clearwater’s fire chief, said paramedics must respond to every patient in a 911 medical call. Murray’s decision not to drive to the scene and examine the woman violated standard procedures.
Murray and Jones “determined she was not worthy of our service,” Geer said.
But Murray and his union representatives, with Local 1158, argued that other firefighter/paramedics have failed to go to 911 scenes and were not fired.
In one case, an engine company continued eating dinner rather than immediately respond to a fire alarm. In another case, a paramedic failed to respond to a 911 call because he wanted to attend training exercises. The firefighter asked other paramedics to respond, officials said.
Murray, who now teaches paramedic courses at Hillsborough Community College, said he wants to return to Clearwater to show he can do the job. A decision from arbiter Martin Holland of Naples could take three months. A similar hearing for Jones, the other paramedic, is scheduled for July.
“All I’m asking is for you to give me an opportunity to let me prove myself to the citizens of Clearwater,” Murray said. “Just give me an opportunity to clear my family’s name.”