A former 911 operator in Houston, Texas, who hung up on countless people seeking help learned her fate this week.
Crenshanda Williams, 44, was found guilty of interference with emergency telephone calls Wednesday and was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 18 months probation. For a year and a half, Williams took calls at Houston Emergency Center. However, it wasn’t until August 2016 that city officials caught wind of her habitual hang-ups and fired her, according to The Houston Chronicle.
The newspaper reported that Williams was fired after the HEC officials conducted a monthly audit of 911 calls and found that Williams had a large volume of calls that lasted less than 20 seconds. Upon further inspection, prosecutors said officials found Williams had hung up on “thousands” of calls.
Williams had hung up on various calls, including robberies, homicides, and reports of speeding vehicles. The Chronicle noted that the center receives about 9,000 calls a day, totaling millions of calls a year. About one-third of those calls are true emergencies.
Jim Moten told KTRK that he had called 911 in 2016 after witnessing two vehicles speeding down Highway 151. He recalled how the call abruptly ended after the dispatcher, later identified as Williams, said, “Ain’t nobody got time for this. For real.”
CBS News reported that the ex-dispatcher told investigators that she hung up because she didn’t want to talk to anyone when they called in.
“The citizens of Harris County rely on 911 operators to dispatch help in their time of need,” Assistant District Attorney Lauren Reeder said in a statement obtained by KTRK. “When a public servant betrays the community’s trust and breaks the law, we have a responsibility to hold them criminally accountable.”
In addition to jail time and probation, Williams was ordered to take a decision-making class and write a letter of apology.
[Featured Image: Crenshanda Williams/Houston Police Department]