Nov. 04--On the third anniversary of their son's death, the parents of a man who was beaten to death in an East Side park filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against Dane County and the Dane County 911 center, alleging that their son might have been saved if dispatchers had sent police to the park in response to earlier calls from a neighbor.
Mark Gregory Johnson, 37, was beaten to death at Lake Edge Park on Nov. 3, 2008, by Michael E. Voltz, 49, who is now serving a nine-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree reckless homicide.
According to the lawsuit, filed by Gregory Johnson, of Madison, and Anita Johnson, of Evansville, Ind., the 911 center received two calls that night from a neighbor concerning an argument or fight taking place in the park. A dispatcher failed to send anyone to the park, the lawsuit states.
Police, fire and emergency medical personnel were sent to the park after a later call to 911 and found Johnson dead from severe head and chest trauma.
According to reports at the time, emergency personnel weren't sent to the park until 90 minutes after the initial phone calls from the park's neighbor. The 911 center later determined that the dispatcher should have classified the call as a higher priority.
The lawsuit states that the 911 center and Dane County were negligent in failing to properly hire, train, monitor, supervise and control the conduct of its dispatchers. It seeks unspecified compensation for damages and costs.
This is the second lawsuit against the 911 center in about three years. The parents of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann sued the center and the county for allegedly mishandling a 911 call from Zimmermann's phone shortly before she died in April 2008. The lawsuit was settled for a $5,000 contribution to a fund to help find Zimmermann's killer and $2,500 to cover some lawyer fees.
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