Police Chief Apologizes for Mix-Up Over 911 Call

Huntington Beach Police Chief Grover Payne has apologized to a resident who reported an intruder in her house, saying Thursday that “the call was poorly handled.”

But Payne denied charges lodged by Duke Medeiros that officers never responded to an emergency 911 call made June 25 by Medeiros’ wife.

Payne said officers were dispatched, but since the intruder had already fled without injuring either of the Medeiroses, the officers were sent instead to a home two doors away, where the man had been reported banging on doors.

In an Aug. 29 letter to the Huntington Beach City Council, Medeiros said he stayed up for hours, waiting for officers to arrive at his home. About 36 hours later, Medeiros wrote, the officers arrived to take his report--after he called to find out what had happened.

Neither Duke Medeiros nor his wife could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

An ‘Unfortunate’ Episode

Payne on Thursday called the episode “unfortunate” and said the responding officers have been reprimanded for not obeying a department policy that requires in-person contact with emergency callers.

“I have apologized to Mr. Medeiros--by phone and in writing--and said that the call was poorly handled,” Payne said Thursday. “(But) the officers went to the area. They apprehended the guy. Where they screwed up was they (officers) didn’t go by the Medeiros house to check back and tell them that everything was OK.”

A man who claimed he was being chased by two men trying to kill him burst into the Medeiroses’ home between 2 and 4 a.m., Payne said. Mrs. Medeiros, whose first name could not be determined Thursday, dialed 911 and relayed the man’s claim to a Huntington Beach police department dispatcher. Payne said the dispatcher--viewing the man as a victim--asked Mrs. Medeiros if she could speak with the man.

The dispatcher asked the intruder for a description of his assailants, assuring him that officers were on their way. This apparently frightened the intruder, who bolted out of the Medeiros home, Payne said.

As officers drove toward the Medeiros’ home on Shepherd Lane, two neighbors reported a man pounding on their doors. Payne said the officers were sent to those addresses. The officers determined no one was injured but searched the neighborhood until they found suspected intruder.

A records check showed no outstanding warrants on the man. A check later showed that warrants sought the man’s arrest, apparently on misdemeanor charges. Payne said the officers concluded that the man was no threat, and drove him home.