NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Council members are expected to discuss whether or not to settle a lawsuit for mistakes made by 911 dispatchers after the Waffle House shooting.
Council member Tanaka Vercher (District 28) is sponsoring the bill which would settle Shaundelle Brooks’ claim against the City of Nashville.
Brooks’ son, Akilah DaSilva, was one of four people killed in the 2018 shooting.
Travis Reinking was accused of shooting at the restaurant from the parking lot then continuing to fire shots once inside.
The lawsuit alleges that the city is liable for the delayed response time of emergency personnel to the scene.
In the critical moments after the shooting, dispatchers sent officers to 816 Murfreesboro Pike instead of the actual location at 3571 Murfreesboro Pike nine miles away.
If adopted, the resolution would force the Emergency Communications Center to create a policy that prevents dispatchers from ignoring callers’ GPS coordinates, in order to not make the same mistake.
Brooks' attorney said the settlement would be nice but the policy is just as important. He released the following statement:
”Although they’ve never had any difficulty exploiting victims’ grief for political purposes, during the year and a half after Metro catastrophically botched the emergency response to a mass shooting, not a single Metro official called for an investigation into how those mistakes happened or how to prevent them from recurring. Now that we’ve called on Metro to adopt a policy that would prevent dispatchers from ignoring callers’ GPS coordinates while giving the victim’s family some closure, though, then all of a sudden, they claim they need more information before making a decision. It’s time for the Metro Council to do its job and help prevent fatal mistakes like this from happening again.”
Brooks attorney said he did not expect council to vote on the issue in Tuesday night's meeting. But council didn't even discuss it.
Since it was a late-filed resolution, Councilman Vercher asked for a suspension of the rules. More than two council members objected; so the resolution could not be discussed or voted on.
She took to social media expressing her frustration.
Since I didn’t get to finish my comments asking/authorizing our Law Director to settle the case of Akilah DaSilva...VM it was just last year this body questioned the training and tactics of the Metro Legal Department. Actually a CM stating..”tactics, disgusting, wrong.”
— Tanaka Vercher (@votevercher) August 21, 2019
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