Ex-911 Operator Sues County For $10.5 Million

[The Northerner]

ATLANTA -- A 911 operator fired after sending an ambulance to the wrong address, is now suing the Fulton County government, its former 911 director, and three other employees for $10.5 million.

Gina Conteh said the county made her a scapegoat when Johns Creek resident Darlene Dukes died after waiting an hour for that ambulance.

"The Fulton County director, and other upper management team members clearly knew she was not capable of handling that position," said Conteh's attorney Rory Starkey.

The lawsuit claims "discipline in this case was political" and "intense media scrutiny called for a termination."

An audit revealed systemic problems in the 911 center and then director, Rocky Moore, quit after a Channel 2 Action News investigation exposed that at the time of the incident, Conteh was working a more complicated dispatcher job, for which managers had deemed her unqualified and refused her a promotion.

Read more: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24961072/detail.html

[CurtEastPoint]

1. She smells money. She got fired for incompetence.

She sent an ambulance to the WRONG CITY and the patient DIED. And she's SUING the county? WTF?

I love this little history of her work performance:

Records show Conteh began a rollercoaster ride in 1996 when she began her work in Fulton.

Her file includes several evaluations that applaud her knowledge of the system, her attitude toward co-workers and ability to properly handle calls. In 1998, her supervisor wrote, "Gina works well with her fellow employees... Gina is a very good employee." In 2005, she was commended twice for perfect attendance.

At the same time, her record shows at least seven suspensions for everything from fighting with co-workers to sleeping on the job to failing to follow procedures. She routinely complained supervisors are picking on her.

In April 2003, Conteh was suspended for falling asleep at her desk so deeply that she tumbled from behind her console and scraped her left ear as she fell. Conteh explained she was leaning over to pick up paper when she fell, according to the file.

She filed a worker's compensation report on her injury. Her superiors did not buy her story.

She also had several screaming matches with co-workers and had to be sent to anger management classes as recently as last year.

She had numerous incidents of mishandling calls, beginning with a string of six errors from December 2006 to January 2008 that resulted in a three-day suspension.

And Conteh was twice spared from being fired. The first time was in April 2004, when she again fell asleep at her desk.

After an appeal, she kept her job, but was moved from a morning shift to an afternoon shift, records show. Another attempt to fire her a year later fizzled.