x
Breaking News
More () »

Investigation finds Ottawa County dispatcher mishandled 911 call prior to Spring Lake Twp. murder

The dispatcher who took Kenneth Boone's original call coded it as "Priority 2, Mental Health Related."

OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich — (Grand Haven Tribune) - An investigation by the Ottawa County Central Dispatch Authority has found that a dispatcher incorrectly handled a 911 call prior to Kenneth Boone killing his father on Dec. 1 in Spring Lake Township. 

The dispatcher who took Kenneth Boone's original call coded it as "Priority 2, Mental Health Related," according to Central Dispatch Executive Director Peter McWatters. 

McWatters said the call should have been coded "Priority 1 Domestic."

"A sequence of events led to the delay, and when we look at it in hindsight, things could have been done differently," McWatters said. "It may not have changed the ultimate outcome, but we could have gotten the sheriff out there more quickly."

The first 911 call came in at approximately 6:15 on the morning of Dec. 1. The call was from 25-year-old Kenneth Boone, requesting police services, according to the Ottawa County Central Dispatch Authority. That call was entered into the computer as a Priority 2. 

RELATED: An hour before his father was found dead, the accused killer called 911 asking for help

"The information that the dispatcher took was accurate," McWatters said. "It was just probably lacking some detail that would have classified it as Priority 1 Domestic. ... It was just a misclassifcation in-house, which led to a lower priority than it probably should have had. 

"On a Sunday morning, you wouldn't think it would be busy, but it was a busy morning with several things happening, and since it was lower priority, it ended up sitting in our dispatch system waiting to be dispatched until a car was free. That didn't happen."

McWatters explained that if the call had been coded as Priority 1, a call would have been made directly to the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office. 

"Ultimately, we would get a hold of the sheriff and let them know we have a Priority 1 Domestic holding, and how do they want to handle it," he said. "Then they can then pull a car in from a separate area of the county. It's totally up to the sheriff. But we didn't make that notification, so it never occurred."

RELATED: Son accused of murdering his father in Spring Lake

Instead, at 7:24 a.m., Kenneth Boone again called 911, this time stating that he had harmed his father. Police responded to the home on Pawnee Drive in Spring Lake Township and found Kenneth Boone outside of the home, and located his father, James Boone, deceased inside the home. 

Kenneth Boone was arrested and was formally charged with his father's murder on Dec. 3. 

Credit: Ottawa County Sheriff's Office

McWatters said the Ottawa County Central Dispatch Authority routinely reviews calls to make sure they're handled correctly. 

"Obviously, we took a look at (this call) right away because we knew there was a delay," McWatters said. "We looked at all the CAD — computer-aided dispatch — history, looked at the calls, and determined something should have been done differently."

McWatters said the dispatcher who handled the call is facing corrective action, as well as supplemental training. 

"They're good employees," McWatters said of the dispatchers. "This was human error, a mistake that we can address what we've done in training and be better in the future."

This story originally appeared on the Grand Haven Tribune's website

RELATED VIDEO:

More Ottawa County News on 13 ON YOUR SIDE:

Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.

Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Before You Leave, Check This Out