Dorothy Greene of Sumpter Township on Feb. 19 filed suit against two former Canton Township 911 dispatchers in Wayne County Circuit Court charging her husband died because the two did not do their jobs. She is seeking $25 million in damages.
Attorney Jonathan Robert Marko, representing the widow of Stephen Greene, 69, said because of a blatant disregard for her duties Rachel Rowell knowingly muted the volume on the township’s 911 emergency line “because she was having a bad day.”
Joshua Choroba, a second Canton dispatcher, was also cited in the $25 million law suit because Marko claims Choroba neglected to turn the volume up after he took over for Rowell during a shift change. Marko said that a third person in the dispatch center overheard Rowell’s “bad day” comment.
Stephen Greene was in Heartland Health Care Center rehabilitation facility and was due to be discharged the next day. The nursing staff at Heartland was on duty in the early morning hours of March 1, 2018, but no doctors. The staff reportedly made 13 calls to Canton 911 to get an ambulance crew to work on Greene or to get him to a hospital to treat the heart attack he was having. He died the next day. His
Rowell and Choroba were suspended from the department after the internal investigation revealed significant policy violations and evidence of possible criminal conduct.
After a review by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office and the Michigan State Police, the prosecutor’s office charged Rowell with willful neglect of duty.
- Previous story Editorial: Nasty ‘R’ word announced in Sumpter Township
- Next story Toot Suite Brass Band to perform at library at 7 p.m., March 14