Rhode Island – Pawtucket Police Dispatcher Cancel’s Paramedics and ALS Unit and Woman Dies
Many states take the duties and responsibilities of dispatchers seriously. In early February of 2020 a Rhode Island E911 call was made for medical assistance and a rescue. The caller was Victor Colebut he was frantic and speaking loudly and crying. He gave his address and the nature of his call. His girlfriend was passed out and not responding. Please help! Please Hurry! He cried into the phone. The 911 Call Taker (CT) acknowledged that he understood but moaned about the 911 caller yelling and never assured him that help was on the way.
Then another voice came on the line, “Fire Alarm”. It was the Pawtucket Police Department’s Communication’s Dispatcher on Duty, Michael Fidalgo. A new civilian employee of the department who had the power of the Chief of police as a radio dispatcher. What he told patrolmen and women to do they had to follow the dispatcher’s orders as if it were the chief herself according to the Pawtucket Police Department’s policies and rules.
From the moment Fidalgo joined the conversation he was rude, uncaring and unwilling to help a 911 caller which is against department policies. While a woman lie unconscious dispatcher Michael Fidalgo busied himself with doing background checks on the 911 caller. Wasting time he began antagonizing the man on the other end who was frustrated, crying and desperately needed medical assistance. Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo continued to play dumb and acting like he didn’t understand the 911 caller.
Victor Colebut hearing the dispatcher and 911 Call Taker’s conversation cleared his throat and told the dispatcher that his girl was unconscious and he don’t know what was wrong but she was not responding before demanding that they you get somebody out here.
Although, a decent human being would have said help was on the way, dispatcher Michael Fidalgo said;
“So your girlfriend’s unconscious what’s going on talk to me … “
That too is against police department policy, the dispatcher was not allowed to give advice to 911 callers. But Michael Fidalgo wasn’t going to let a 911 caller tell him, the radio dispatcher with the power of the chief of police what to do.
At that point it becomes clear based on the official records that Michael Fidalgo was focused on teaching the 911 caller who was in charge. Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo continued his charade and told the CT who was still on the line just listening in that he did not understand the 911 caller.
The CT sounded intimidated when he said that he thought the 911 caller said he needs a rescue.
Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo then told the CT that he knew the police and was going to give the call over to the police …
“I know the police I’m going to send them out for an unknown medical … what the f…”
Pawtucket Police Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo canceled the paramedics and advanced life support, then told the EMTs and basic life support to stage for police, i.e., stay away until police clear the scene. To make matters worse dispatcher Michael Fidalgo create a false exigent circumstance and dispatched a ‘fire engine’ and a ‘ladder’
Because of One Disturbed Individual, Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo a Life was Lost
Five minutes had past when the police were finally dispatched. The ALS Unit with advanced life support and paramedics were dispatched and less than a minute later while en route dispatcher Michael Fidalgo canceled them. Reporting the 911 call for a non responsive female as an unknown medical was false information intended to create the exigent circumstance that the state’s attorney’s are attempting to rely on as justification for the police entering a private residence and making a felony arrest without a warrant.
Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo knew that an ‘unknown medical’ was a situation that meant danger, send in the police first to clear the scene. We don’t know if someone needs medical assistance but they may.
So Michael Fidalgo dispatched other units as “manpower” because he was delaying medical assistance and making sure that a RI E-911 caller’s girlfriend did not get any help.
Based on the RI E-911 call what reason did dispatcher Michael Fidalgo have for withholding advanced life support and the paramedics, staging the EMTs and basic life support and dispatching a fire engine that carries water and an aerial fire engine with ‘firefighters’ as manpower?
Not only did Michael Fidalgo care less about the woman who lie in dire need of medical care but he didn’t care about the department resources that he intentionally tied up unnecessarily. Rhode Island Pawtucket dispatcher Michael Fidalgo’S conduct was reckless he did not care if a non-responsive woman died or not, as a matter of fact he did everything in his power to make sure Kristine Ohler did not receive the life-saving medical care that she desperately needed.
Kristine Ohler may very well be alive today if Michael Fidalgo did not maliciously cancel Advanced Life Support. Any person in a position such as a dispatcher should integrity, it takes kindness, patience and respect to interact with 911 callers. Dispatchers have a high standard to meet and their character and attitude cannot be like Michael Fidalgo’s who acted with a wanton disregard for life. This was an overdose situation and many people fear dialing 911 because of the police responding and doing exactly what they did in Mr. Colebut’s case; exploit the 911 call and arrest good-faith callers who report possible overdoses.
Rhode Island has since changed how medical emergency calls are handled, but that does not bring a dead woman back to life. It is not right for the state to know that advanced life support was canceled and not investigate the dispatcher, but persecute the 911 caller who begged for and demanded help for his girlfriend. The fact that the dispatcher intentionally stopped the ALS Unit and sent out lesser equipped units as “manpower” and that dispatcher Michael Fidalgo also held back EMTs and basic life support by unnecessarily telling the EMTs to STAGE for police is evidence of dispatcher gross negligence. What type of human being would do such a thing? The inability to feel empathy for another human life is a characteristic of someone who should not be in any position that deals with the public.
Dispatchers who deny assistance, delay response, hang up on callers, send the units to the wrong address and other things of this nature are investigated and held accountable for their mistakes or wrong doings. Pawtucket Police Communication’s Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo’s actions were a serious contributing factor to Kristine Ohler’s condition worsening and becoming fatal. The dispatcher set everything in motion and the responding law enforcement officer’s filled in the blanks. Rather than addressing the misconduct the Pawtucket Police department chose an all out effort to bury the truth and frame an innocent man.
It is one thing for the dispatcher to cancel advanced life support that was en route and a whole different one when the State’s Assistant Attorney General’s know the facts and have pressed forward with a fierceness in pursuit of Mr. Colebut’s life. One can only wonder why, it is quite obvious that how dispatchers handle calls is a very serious public issue and not one to be played with.
The Pawtucket Police Communications dispatcher Michael Fidalgo whose reckless disregard for human life was a direct nexus to Kristine Ohler’s condition worsening and becoming fatal. Michael Fidalgo is no longer with the Pawtucket Police Department he is working in East Providence. That does not change the facts that then dispatcher Michael Fidalgo canceled Advanced Life Support that was in route for an unconscious woman, his actions resulted in Kristine Ohler’s ultimate death and her condition worsening while in the care, custody and control of the responding 3rd platoon patrolmen/women that were dispatched.
Rhode Island Should Follow Other State Examples
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Investigate and Arrest Pawtucket Dispatcher Michael Fidalgo for his gross negligence that contributed to the death of Kristine Candace Ohler
