Dispatcher Being Investigated For Response to Fatal Crashes

The Stillwater County sheriff's office is conducting an internal investigation after a dispatcher failed to immediately contact local authorities in two traffic cases that resulted in two deaths, including one that may have been preventable.

Sheriff Cliff Brophy said the dispatcher was placed on administrative leave on March 29.

Brophy tells the Stillwater County News that his department is investigating why a call about a March 21 rollover on Interstate 90 was referred to the Montana Highway Patrol and that no deputies were notified even after it became clear someone had died and at least one person was very badly injured.

On March 24, Brophy says the dispatcher failed to act on three calls about a confused elderly woman wandering in the Columbus area. More than an hour after the first report, the woman was struck by a vehicle and died.