Queens, New York Man Blames 911 Failure For Father's Death
Last week's collapse of New York's 911 emergency phone service has Mayor Bloomberg asking for some guarantees that it doesn't happen again. Now, a Queens man is blaming the death of his father on Friday's failure of the 911 emergency system.
(Queens-WABC, March 30, 2004) -- Last week's collapse of New York's 911 emergency phone service has Mayor Bloomberg asking for some guarantees that it doesn't happen again. Now, a Queens man is blaming the death of his father on Friday's failure of the 911 emergency system.
Verizon says a single worker was responsible for wiping out 911 service for millions of people during a two-hour period Friday night. The problem caused the system to shut down in parts of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
It was during that time that 76-year old Jasper Grier was dying of a heart attack in his Queens Village home.
Relatives say they frantically called 911 to get an ambulance but only got busy signals.
Finally an aunt went to a nearby firehouse to get help.
But when EMS arrived, Grier was already unconscious. He was pronounced dead a short while later.
