Weekly Edition

Dispatcher pays for doubts about hit-and-run call

The family of a pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run accident has recovered $200,000 from a public safety dispatcher who ignored a call about the incident.

The lawsuit arising from the 2001 death of Jody Swisher alleged a Staunton dispatcher was grossly negligent in failing to heed the 911 emergency call. The dispatcher, Richard Broschinski, apparently thought the call was a hoax.

Last month, a Staunton circuit judge approved settlement of the family’s wrongful death claim against Broschinski. The estate was represented by Fredericksburg attorney John P. Harris III. Richmond attorney Bruce M. Marshall represented Broschinsky.
According to the complaint, Swisher was walking home after celebrating his 38th birthday at a nightclub when he was struck by a car driven by Ronnie Lee Cash.

Cash drove away, but a passenger in Cash’s car later called the 911 dispatcher to report what he had seen.

A transcript of the call is set out in the complaint. The caller said, “I am telling you go check between Dice’s Inn and Wal-Mart. I’m telling you I…. Something broke the windshield and I’m damn sure he hit somebody ‘cause there was blood on the car.”

Despite the frantic call from the passenger, Broschinski never informed police or rescue responders of the call.

Swisher’s body was not found for nearly ten hours. His family’s lawsuit alleged the dispatcher’s failure to heed the call led to Swisher’s death or additional suffering.

Cash was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to hit-and-run, manslaughter and drunk driving. His insurance company paid its $25,000 limits to Swisher’s family in exchange for a covenant not to sue.

The settlement against Broschinski brings the family’s total recovery to $225,000.

According to news accounts, Broschinski resigned as a 911 dispatcher less than a month after the incident. He was cleared of intentional wrongdoing in a police internal investigation.

Other incidents of heedless dispatchers have made the news in recent years. The family of a Denver woman who was kidnapped and murdered by her ex-fiancé sued an emergency dispatcher for not sending police when two people called 911, describing the kidnapping.

The brother of a Detroit woman who collapsed and died at her home filed a federal lawsuit this year against dispatchers who ignored emergency calls for help from the woman’s children. One of those Detroit dispatchers was sentenced to a year of probation in March after a jury found her guilty of willful neglect of duty.

© Copyright 2009, by Virginia Lawyers Media, all rights reserved