Author of the article: Associated Press Mark Scolforo This 2020 photo provided by Kelly Titchenell shows her mother, Diania Kronk. Photo by Kelly Titchenell /via AP

Content of the article

A Pennsylvania 911 operator faces a rare involuntary manslaughter charge for failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who died of internal bleeding a day later, despite pleas from the woman’s daughter that without medical help she was “going to die. “

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

A Greene County detective filed charges against Leon “Lee” Price, 50, of Waynesburg, in the July 2020 death of Diania Kronk, 54, based on Price’s reluctance to send help without receiving more assurance that Kronk would actually go to the hospital. . “I think she would be alive today if they had sent an ambulance,” said Cronk’s daughter Kelly Titchnell, 38. Price, who was also charged with reckless endangerment, official oppression and obstruction, repeatedly asked Titchnell during the four-minute call whether Cronk would agree to be taken for treatment. Price was arraigned on June 29 and released on bail. He did not respond to messages left at a home number listed in his name, and officials said a defense attorney has not contacted the district court.

Advertising 3

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

“It needs to be very clear across the state that when you call it’s not going to depend on someone on the other end of the phone saying there’s going to be service or not,” Lawrence E. Bolind Jr. said. , who is representing Titchenell in a federal lawsuit filed last month. “What we’re trying to do here is make sure this never happens to someone else.”

“HE WILL DIE”

In the 911 recording, an operator identified by police as Price responded to Titchnell’s description of her mother needing hospital care by asking if she was “willing to go” to the hospital about half an hour away from where she lived in Sycamore. “It will be, because I’m on my way there, so it’s go or die,” Titchnell told Price as she drove from her home in Mather.

Advertising 4

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

Price said he would send an ambulance, but then added that “we really need to make sure she’s willing to go.” “He’ll go, he’ll go,” said Titchnell. Because if not, he will die, there is nothing else. She said Cronk was not thinking clearly and was her mother’s closest relation. When Price asked again if Cronk would actually go, Titchnell replied, “Okay, well, can we just try?” After Titchnell told Price it was about 10 minutes from her mother’s house, Price asked if Titchnell would call 911 back once she was sure Cronk was willing to go in an ambulance. “Excuse me,” Titchnell said, and Price replied, “No, don’t be sorry, ma’am. Just call me when you get out there, okay?’

WE’RE TALKING INCORRECTLY

Advertising 5

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

When Titchnell and her three children arrived home, she said, Cronk was naked on the front porch and babbling. She made her mother wear a robe. “He just kept saying he’s fine, he’s fine,” Titchenell said. “It’s the mother, you know—she doesn’t listen to her children.” Titchnell said she was unable to call from home because her mother’s landline could not be located and there was no cell service. She also didn’t call on the way home, believing her uncle would check on her soon and that another 911 call would be pointless. “That’s unheard of for me. I mean, they’ll send an ambulance for anything,” Titchnell said. “And here I am telling this guy that my mom is going to die. It’s, like, her death and she’s not getting an ambulance.”

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

Her brother found out the next day that their mother had died. We apologize, but this video failed to load. The prosecutor, Greene County Prosecutor Dave Russo, said he is also investigating whether there was any policy or training that allowed County 911 dispatchers to deny service to callers. “We all deserve equal protection and we all deserve access to medical services,” Rousseau said in an interview. “I have a great concern for the safety of the community in relation to this.”

CHARGES RARE BUT HAPPEN

John Kelly, a Naperville, Illinois attorney who is general counsel for the National Association of Emergency Numbers, said criminal charges against dispatchers for failing to send help are very rare, but they have happened. In one case Kelly teaches in dispatcher training, a 911 operator in Detroit received a year of probation in 2008 and lost her job after, authorities said, she ignored a boy’s calls to report that his mother had collapsed . The 5-year-old boy testified that the dispatcher accused him of playing games and hung up on him, and the dispatcher testified that he could not hear the child.

Advertising 7

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

Titchenell, acting on behalf of her mother’s estate, sued Price and Greene County in federal court in Pittsburgh last month, along with two 911 supervisors. The suit accuses Price of “improper denial of public emergency medical services.” . Marie Milie Jones, an attorney for the county and 911 supervisors in the federal case, said her clients plan to vigorously defend the lawsuit and do not believe they are responsible for Cronk’s death. He said there are “ongoing personnel matters” regarding Price, but declined to elaborate. “It is sad that this woman died. Certainly, from a personal perspective, this is very difficult,” Jones said. “I’m not going to comment on the details of her circumstances.” Titchnell told Price that her mother had been drinking heavily for a few weeks before she died and that Titchnell had noticed she was losing weight and “turning yellow”. He said an autopsy concluded that Cronk, who worked in home health care, died of internal bleeding. She said she thinks about her late mother every day – how the former branch manager loved to cook, help people and spoil her five grandchildren, how she packed a mountain of presents under the tree every Christmas. “He had the biggest heart,” Titchnell said. “If someone had nowhere to live, he would take them in, give them a bed. That was mom.”

Share this article on your social network

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

From our newsroom to your midday inbox, the latest headlines, stories, opinions and photos from the Toronto Sun. By clicking the subscribe button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300

Thanks for subscribing!

A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, check your spam folder. The next issue of Your Midday Sun will be in your inbox soon. We encountered a problem with your registration. PLEASE try again

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourages all readers to share their views on our articles.  Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site.  We ask that you keep your comments relevant and respectful.  We’ve enabled email notifications—you’ll now receive an email if you get a reply to your comment, there’s an update on a comment thread you’re following, or if someone follows the comments.  Visit the Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to customize your email settings.