MILWAUKEE — Newly released internal investigation records are offering the clearest picture yet of what went wrong inside Milwaukee’s emergency dispatch center before a 99-year-old woman waited nearly three hours for help during a brutal assault inside her home.
Hundreds of pages of records obtained by TMJ4 through an open records request detail how emergency calls were initially classified, why investigators believed warning signs were missed and how two Milwaukee 911 call takers ultimately resigned in lieu of termination.
TMJ4 News reporter Mike Beiermeister breaks down what those investigation records reveal in the video below:
TMJ4 News is not identifying the employees involved. While their names have appeared in previous reporting, neither has been charged with a crime.
The records stem from the July 27 attack on Shirley, a 99-year-old Milwaukee woman who police say was beaten inside her South 14th Street home by 23-year-old Joseph Guadalupe Macias.
Macias remains charged with battery to an elder person causing great bodily harm, first-degree reckless injury and burglary of a dwelling.
According to the investigation, the first emergency calls came from a third-party operator connected to Shirley’s medical alert system shortly after 5:15 a.m.
The records show the call taker initially entered the incident as a “Welfare” call before later changing it to a “Threat” call. Investigators later concluded the incident should have been classified as a “Battery” — a more urgent response classification inside the dispatch system.
The records also show the dispatcher declined an opportunity to monitor a live open line from inside the home.
“I just took them off hold and listened for a minute and it sounds like he is kicking an elderly woman while they’re down on the floor,” the operator told 911.
Investigators later stated the call taker “failed when she didn’t allow the Operator to connect the call” and acknowledged “a Battery call type would have been more appropriate.”
The records show the calls remained pending for hours before officers finally arrived at the home around 8:23 a.m.
By then, CAD logs described:
- a 99-year-old woman on the floor,
- bleeding from her arms,
- struck in the face,
- and having difficulty breathing.
TMJ4 News reviewed the records with Len Scrima, a former Waukesha dispatcher and dispatcher trainer with more than three decades of emergency communications experience.
“What caught my attention was the three-hour delay,” Scrima said. “There should have been fail-safe mechanisms.”
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The records also show the primary dispatcher involved was not terminated. Investigators concluded the dispatcher relied on the original call classification entered into the system and instead received additional training.
The files further show investigators accused employees of discussing the case despite orders not to, including text messages sent to coworkers about the investigation.
Milwaukee Department of Emergency Communications Director Tony Bueno announced in August that two call takers resigned in lieu of termination following the investigation.
At the same time, Scrima said dispatching is difficult, high-pressure work handled by people who may take thousands of emergency calls over the course of their careers.
"If you step in there for one minute and take a call, it shows a lot of guts and fortitude," Scrima said.
Macias remains jailed. His next court appearance is scheduled for next month.
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