The family of a man who drowned after jumping into the Washington Channel — after a 911 call listed his situation as a non-urgent, Priority 2 situation — is suing D.C., its Office of Unified Communications and the mayor.
David Earl Griffin, 47, died on March 14 in 2022 after a more than half-hour-long encounter with ambulance crews.
According to court documents, Griffin was experiencing a mental health crisis around 6:15 p.m. in the Southwest Waterfront area.
“As many as 10 calls were made to 911 within an approximate four minute time span, describing Mr. Griffin’s behavior and reporting that he was yelling, jumping on cars, and scaring bystanders,” the lawsuit filed by his daughter Aujah said.
A dispatcher allegedly entered the calls as an overdose situation, classifying it as Priority 2, which “meant that the response from emergency responders would be far more delayed than the response would be for a Priority 1 call,” according to the lawsuit.
Around 6:42 p.m., the ambulance crew called a 10-33, meaning they were in imminent danger.
“Mr. Griffin was in crisis. Yet police did not even receive the call for about 22 minutes and did not respond for at least 30 minutes, an unconscionable delay in response due to the emergency dispatcher’s incorrect classification of the call as a drug overdose warranting a Priority 2 response. That response was inconceivably delayed even further by the emergency dispatcher’s failure to report to police officers the change in location the EMT personnel had reported when EMTs called dispatch pleading for assistance.”
“As a result of these failures, Mr. Griffin died,” the lawsuit reads.
The District and Mayor Muriel Bowser are named in the lawsuit along with the Office of Unified Communications and two former directors of that agency.
The original case prompted the OUC to review its procedures when Fire and EMS calls for help from police.
Following its initial investigation regarding Griffin’s drowning, a spokesperson for OUC said there was room for improvement in the agency’s handling of the situation.
The suit mentioned multiple other instances where the OUC and police have seemingly failed city residents in properly and promptly dispatching emergency services to those in need. It also claims the District failed to comply with the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results (NEAR) Act by not implementing crime prevention teams that were trained in handling mental health crises.
Griffin was described as “a loving father” of 10 and a grandfather of 17. His family is seeking monetary retribution for wrongful death, negligence and damages in a survivorship action, among other claims.
Among the officials named in the suit are former Director Karima Holmes and Interim Director Cleo Subido.
Subido has filed her own lawsuit against the District, alleging she was fired for shining a light on problems at the agency and that the Bowser administration repeatedly tried to conceal serious errors.
WTOP’s Ciara Wells contributed to this report.
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