Inspector: Wait was worse than dog's bite

Deputies say a missing girl took priority, but a man bitten by a dog says he should have gotten better service.

By PHIL DAVIS
Published June 10, 2005

PORT RICHEY - The dog bite hurt. But what really got under Bill Thompson's skin was a painful lesson in Pasco County's handling of emergency calls.

"I went through the process and I got the impression that no one knows what the (expletive) is going on," Thompson said, fuming. "You've got to know the right questions to get these guys to do anything. It has caused me to wait 24 hours to find out if I'm walking around with rabies inside me."

Thompson, 42, of St. Pete Beach, said he was inspecting a home near Port Richey Wednesday afternoon when a neighbor's "big ... aggressive" dog leapt up a fence and bit him on the upper arm. He wasn't sure what to do, so he called 911. He refused medical attention - the bite wasn't that bad - and he said a dispatcher promised to send a deputy to take a report.

His cell phone logged the call at 2:21 p.m. A deputy never arrived.

Thompson spent the next 90 minutes waiting and bouncing through a series of phone calls to law enforcement agencies. A 3:57 p.m., he said a Pasco sheriff's dispatcher told him a deputy wouldn't respond to a bite call and to call Pasco County Animal Control.

"Oh my gosh, I can understand his frustration," Pasco County Animal Control Manger Denise Hilton said. "That is an unusual response, if indeed he did get that response. They investigate dog bites all the time. If it's during regular business hours when my folks are available, they still might respond."

There was a lot going on around the time Thompson called, said Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin. A supervisor downgraded Thompson's call based on a sliding scale that prioritizes response to the most serious incidents. A dog bite with no serious injuries is considered minor, Tobin said.

Then, 24 minutes after Thompson called, all the deputies in the area were sent to look for a missing 8-year-old in New Port Richey, Tobin said.

"The call wasn't lost, it was prioritized," Tobin said. "It's something we do every day."

Tobin said a sheriff's dispatcher gave the call to animal control at 3:15 p.m. But Animal Control Manager Denise Hilton said Thursday that the agency did not get the report until Thompson called after 4 p.m. She said they ordered the owner to quarantine the dog and show proof of vaccination.

"Well, certainly if there was a missing 8-year-old, I understand that," Thompson said. "But there was no call back. There was nothing. It sounds to me like there was a communications breakdown at police headquarters. It also sounds like unless you need medical attention you can't file a dog bite report."

As of Thursday evening, Hilton said her officers had not spoken to Thompson.

"There was no service," Thompson said. "It was all bite and no bark."

[Last modified June 10, 2005, 01:12:14]