Old Saybrook Police Dispatcher Quits

By Eileen McNamara
Published on 3/7/2008

Old Saybrook — A veteran police dispatcher has quit the department amid allegations he botched an emergency call in December from one of two men who were found dead in their home about two days after the call.

David McDonald, 45, of Westbrook, quit his part-time job here about a month ago after his bosses recommended that he be suspended for 10 days and undergo additional training in 911 procedures.

The call for the disciplinary action followed an internal investigation by police into McDonald's handling of a call from one of two men who lived together at 14 North Meadow Road. Both men, Eugene Amoroso, 62, and Ronald Gebo, 70, were found dead on the evening of Dec. 2, about two days after one of them placed the call.

The 911 call initially was made by one of the men to Valley Shore Emergency Communications, a regional dispatch center in Westbrook, said Wayne Wysocki, president of the local police dispatcher's union. Wysocki said he doesn't know which of the two men made the call or what the nature of the call was.

Somehow, Wysocki said, the call was lost by the dispatcher at Valley Shore. That emergency official then called Old Saybrook police to report the call. The dispatcher, Wysocki said, gave the caller's cell phone number to McDonald, who had worked as a dispatcher here for 17 years. McDonald then called the man back.

At the conclusion of that conversation, Wysocki said, McDonald decided not to send an ambulance or patrol car to the home to check on the men.

After the men were found dead in the home about two days later, police Chief Edmund H. Mosca interviewed McDonald about the 911 call, Wysocki said. McDonald told the chief the caller did not provide specifics about the nature of the call, and he didn't believe the call warranted a follow-up by a patrolman or ambulance crew, Wysocki said.

“He asked the guy if he was having a problem, and the guy said no,” he added.

Following an internal investigation by police, Mosca determined the call “was mishandled and that internal procedures were not followed,” Lt. Michael Spera reported to the Police Commission in January. Mosca determined that McDonald should be disciplined with a 10-day suspension and retraining, but McDonald quit before that discipline was imposed.

McDonald on Thursday declined to comment.

Mosca did not return a message seeking comment.

Police were called to the home on North Meadow Road after the bodies of Amoroso and Gebo were discovered by a family member of one of the men. An autopsy by the Chief State Medical Examiner's office determined that both men, longtime friends who had lived together for several years, died of natural causes.

Amoroso, the coroner's office determined, died of pneumonia due to a chronic lung disease, and Gebo died of cardiovascular disease and ethanolism, or alcoholism.

Amoroso's ex-wife, Harriet Amoroso, declined to comment Thursday.

Wysocki said the local union had stood ready to defend McDonald if he had decided to oppose the discipline recommended by Mosca.

“The union would certainly have stood up for Dave, but he chose to quit,” Wysocki said.

Police reported the incident to First Selectman Michael Pace and the town's Police Commission. In a report to the commission in January, Lt. Michael Spera gave a brief description of the incident but did not identify McDonald or indicate that the mishandled call came from one of the two men who were later found dead.

Pace and Christina Burnham, the Police Commission's chairwoman, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

e.mcnamara@theday.com