Union: Brain tumor behind dispatcher's delayed response

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MIAMI BEACH, Fla., May 8 (UPI) -- A Florida police dispatcher facing dismissal for failing to respond quickly to a call where a man died is suffering from a brain tumor, his union says.

A hearing on Damian Janee, a dispatcher in Miami Beach, scheduled for Tuesday was postponed, The Miami Herald reported.

Richard McKinnon, president of the Communication Workers of America local that represents Janee, said the dispatcher should not have to worry about his job right now.

Miami Beach police say Janee could have cost a man his life. He did not dispatch an ambulance for 14 minutes after a call came in, and help did not arrive at the home for another 10. In the meantime, a 65-year-old man had died.

Janee in an interview with WFOR-TV, Miami, said he had a "mental lapse."

"I'm not a monster who sat behind the radio and intentionally let somebody else die," he said.

Janee had been disciplined on four occasions since 2011. He twice left 911 lines open, once for 37 minutes and once for 16, and on another occasion waited four minutes before responding to a call about a fire.

McKinnon suggested the tumor, undiagnosed until recently, might be responsible for all those problems.