Delong v. Erie County, N.Y. Sup. Ct.,

89 A.D.2d 376, 455 N.Y.S.2d 887 (1982)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Amalia DeLong (P), her husband, and their three young children resided at 319 Victoria Boulevard in the Village of Kenmore, a suburb of Buffalo located in Erie County. In October 1976, the Village of Kenmore was one of the four communities outside of Buffalo fully served by the 911 emergency telephone system operated by the Central Police Services, an agency of Erie County, with the active assistance and co-operation of the Buffalo Police Department. The system was located in the 911 room in Buffalo police headquarters in downtown Buffalo. At 9:29:29 in the morning of October 25, 1976, Amalia DeLong dialed 911 on her telephone and was immediately connected to the 911 room. P told the police that a burglar was breaking into her home. The complaint writer said that police would be dispatched right away. But the writer wrote down the wrong address. He had not ascertained the caller's name, that she was calling from the Village of Kenmore, or that the complete name of the street was 'Victoria Boulevard. Aware that there was a Victoria Avenue in the City of Buffalo and assuming that he was dealing with a Buffalo emergency, the complaint writer stamped the word 'flash' on the complaint card and routed it on the high priority conveyor to the Buffalo police dispatcher stationed on the other side of a glass partition. The cars radioed back that the address did not exist. The cars were released from the call, and no further action was taken. Less than four and one-half minutes had elapsed from the end of D's call. If the call had been identified as 319 Victoria Boulevard in the Village of Kenmore, the complaint writer could, by pressing two buttons, have made instant and direct contact with the Village of Kenmore Police Department. At approximately 9:42, neighbors observed P run from the front door of her house. She was naked, covered with blood and bleeding profusely. She fell to the sidewalk. Before her collapse, she uttered her only words: 'The baby. The baby.' Her infant child could be seen standing inside the open door. A police car which arrived within one minute -- at 9:43. The police station was approximately 1,375 feet from P's house and that if the police car had been responding to the report of a burglary of an occupied house, it would have used the siren in approaching to scare the burglar away. The paramedics arrived at 9:47. Their records indicated that at 9:53 D had no vital signs. She had received seven knife wounds: to the left side of the neck, the left side of the head, the second finger of the right hand, the nail of the third finger on the left hand, the thumb of the left hand, and a wound to the left shoulder. The laceration on the neck was fatal. The police found evidence of a savage attack. An expert opined that the fatal blow was inflicted at 9:38, four minutes after the dispatcher had 'cleared' the call. Her survivors sued the village of Kenmore (D) and Erie County (D) for wrongful death. A jury returned an award for damages of $200,000 for her conscious pain and suffering and $600,000 for wrongful death, finding each defendant 50% responsible. D appealed.