Delayed 9-1-1 Response Leads to Street Name Review in Maine
By Scott Monroe, Portland Press Herald
WINSLOW, Maine — The delayed response to an emergency call that ended in a murder-suicide has prompted officials to review the town’s street names and consider changing ones that sound alike.
Town Manager Michael Heavener told the Town Council on Monday night that the review comes in response to apparent confusion on June 6, when dispatchers sent police to the wrong address, delaying officers’ arrival to the shooting scene by several minutes.
Officers initially were sent to 4 Murray Lane, when the emergency was at 4 Marie St.
Heavener had asked Police Chief Jeffrey Fenlason and Fire Chief David LaFountain to review dispatching records.
”Both chiefs concluded the like-sounding street names may have contributed to the confusion around the location of the caller,” Heavener said. ”They recommend that one of the street names be changed to avoid future such incidents.”
Both chiefs plan to meet with the Townwide Safety Committee to ”identify and correct all like-sounding street names,” Heavener said.
At 7:52 p.m. on June 6, Sarah Gordon, 30, of 4 Marie St., called 911 on her cellphone to report that her husband, 32-year-old Nathaniel Gordon, was threatening to kill her. Soon after the call, he gunned down his wife outside their home and drove away.
He shot himself after being chased by Maine State Police on Interstate 95 in southern Maine.
Copyright © 2011 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy
