Milwaukee 911 delay: Investigation records reveal new details

MILWAUKEE - A 99-year-old Milwaukee woman, beaten and severely injured in her own home, waited hours for help after a delayed 911 response in late July. It prompted an internal investigation at the city's Department of Emergency Communications. Now, FOX6 News has obtained records related to that investigation that reveal new details about what happened.

Call takers identified

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Records show Stephanie Hughes took the first 911 call, and Arriana Cadotte-Merced took the second. The DEC concluded both violated prosecutors and incorrectly classified the emergency response. Both resigned in lieu of being fired. FOX6 News reached out to them to see if they would do an interview but did not hear back.

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The DEC concluded Hughes incorrectly classified the emergency response from "welfare check" to "battery." When asked about why she did not upgrade the call, she said she had to clarify that someone was actually being assaulted and later acknowledged a battery call type would have been more appropriate. There was also an investigation into Hughes after a coworker said she fell asleep on the job that night. Hughes denied that.

Cadotte-Merced also failed to upgrade the call despite hearing a woman in distress and a male voice making threats in the background, the DEC said. She told investigators she did not have confirmation of battery to upgrade the call.

The investigation into James Ireton, the primary Milwaukee Police District 6 dispatcher, revealed he did not violate policy and relied on DEC call-taker entries. It also disclosed that all but one MPD squad and a sergeant were actively handling other calls of the same or higher priority.

Texts between call taker, dispatcher

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Text messages between one of the 911 call takers, Stephanie Hughes, and a Milwaukee police dispatcher, James Ireton, were included in the records. They exchanged messages on July 31, five days after the mishandled call.

Records said Hughes asked Ireton if he was OK, and the exchange continued for a couple of days when Hughes said to Ireton: "I'm going to block you because I'm in disbelief that they are going to fire two people for a mistake we didn't make." Hughes went on to say: "We are low hanging fruit so they are going to throw us under the bus." Hughes then blocked Ireton. 

Computer-aided dispatch 

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Open records also showed the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) calls, meaning the exchanges between the call takers and first responders.

The first call taker, Stephanie Hughes, answered at 5:14 a.m. The comments said, "caller can hear what sounds like a physical fight," and at 5:18 a.m. "caller believes he heard a male say to a female he was going to physically harm her." That's when Hughes updated the call from welfare check to threat.

At 5:22 a.m., another call taker, Arianna Cadotte-Merced, joined. Comments said, "male subject heard making threats to physically assault an elderly subject." Then the line went busy. It wasn't until 7:50 a.m. when another call taker upgraded it to a battery, and police arrived to help the victim at 8:23 a.m.

Cadotte-Merced told investigators she would not have done anything different based on training. When an investigator asked Hughes if something prevented her entering the caller stating there is an ongoing domestic situation, she said: "Callers say that all the time so that's why I have to clarify if they've seen anyone being assaulted."

Continued coverage

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FOX6 News has been digging into the 911 delay investigation for months. Here's a look at FOX6's latest coverage:

• Sept. 11: City committee holds closed-door session
• Sept. 2: Victim's attorney considering lawsuit
• Sept. 1: How Wisconsin law protects public employees from lawsuits
• Aug. 27: Investigation record release faces procedural delay
• Aug. 26: Questions remain despite completed investigation

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Christina Van Zelst and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.

MilwaukeeNewsCrime and Public Safety