CPD cruiser crash that killed high school grad caused by ‘reckless’ 911 dispatch, lawsuit says

Download the free FOX19 NOW Weather App for iPhone

Download the free FOX19 NOW Weather App for Android

Video above is from FOX19 NOW’s previous coverage.

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A recent high school graduate was hit and killed by a Cincinnati police cruiser responding to what was initially reported as an “active shooter” in August 2024. His mother is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

According to the lawsuit filed by Shenee McClendon, the City of Cincinnati and its Emergency Communications Center caused the death of her son, Amir Jordan, by “wrongfully classifying” a 911 call as a life-threatening situation. This ultimately “triggered” an “unnecessary” police response through city streets, causing the deadly crash.

It happened Aug. 29, 2024, on Este Avenue near Chickering Avenue in Spring Grove Village.

Jordan, 19, was getting off a Metro bus when he started lawfully crossing Este Avenue. At 5:56 p.m., a Cincinnati police cruiser responding to what was believed to be an active shooter came speeding through the street with its lights and sirens on.

The cruiser struck Jordan, causing fatal injuries.

“The 911 call did not involve an active shooter, an ongoing shooting, a person shot, an injured victim, or an immediate threat to life,” the lawsuit says. “The caller reported damage to his vehicle windshield and a firearm discharge during an incident that had occurred much earlier. He specifically stated that he had not been shot and that the female involved (who previously had the firearm) was no longer on scene.”

This was not the first time call takers in the ECC misclassified a call, nor was it the first time someone complained to the center’s leadership about the issue, the lawsuit alleges.

“Despite their knowledge of the ongoing ECC failures, defendants refused to implement effective corrective training, supervision, auditing, reporting, and policy enforcement,” the complaint says. “After Amir was killed, certain supervisory defendants recognized that longstanding and uncorrected ECC failures had caused his death, but instead of disclosing and correcting those failures as ECC policy required, they concealed the true circumstances and then caused Amir’s family to be given a knowingly false account that the police vehicle had been responding to an actual life-threatening emergency.”

FOX19 NOW reached out to city officials for comment, but they declined pending litigation.

Read the full lawsuit below.

Incident detail report reveals Emergency Communications Centers’ errors on Aug. 29, 2024

The night of the deadly crash, Sarah Houseworth took a call from a man who claimed a woman shot at him at 504 Dutch Colony Dr. at 5:47 p.m., according to an incident detail report.

Houseworth described the problem as “female shot at comp (complainant),” but classified it as a shooting – a priority red – the report shows.

At 5:50 p.m., the man called back and reported that the woman shot toward him, which damaged his vehicle. However, he was not shot, the report says.

“Comp states female shot him… windshields broken on vehs (vehicles)… line discon (disconnected)...,” Houseworth described. “Comp did state he was not shot…. Female fired shots at loc (location).”

Despite there being no shooting or possible life-threatening injuries, Chelsea Basista “read” (reviewed) the descriptions and assigned six police units to respond at 5:51 p.m., the report shows.

Seconds later, Houseworth reported the woman had left the scene.

Two more police units were added to the “misclassified emergency” by Basista at 5:54 p.m., despite it being reported that there was no emergency, the report says.

“Had the call been accurately classified or timely corrected as a delayed report, property-damage incident, non-in-progress weapons or firearm report, or other lower-priority call, the responding officer would not have been authorized, expected, or required to continue in emergency mode at the time and place Amir was crossing Este Avenue,” the lawsuit says.

Emergency Communications Center’s history of ‘recurring gun-call miscoding’

Before Amir’s death, the ECC had received complaints about miscoding 911 calls, according to the complaint.

In October 2022, Sean Williams, an emergency services dispatch supervisor, reported seeing an uptick in “gun runs” that had been miscoded.

An email between Williams, ECC Operations Manager Christopher Dooley, another emergency services dispatch supervisor Andrea Boudrie, and Nick Erskine indicates that one of the callers did not want to see police and that the suspect had left the scene, while the other call was a robbery that was coded as “gun” because a gun was used.

“I think that the newer call takers latch on to one part of a procedure and forget the exceptions or other circumstances that change the incident type,” Boudrie responded over email. “When they are confronted, the easy answer is ‘that’s what we were told in class.’”

On June 10, 2024, Williams emailed Dooley about a call that was miscoded as a drive-by shooting even though the weapon involved was a BB gun.

“Williams reported that then CPD Lieutenant Tim Lanter wanted the incident forwarded as an example of officers responding lights-and-sirens to an event that was not a shooting, and Lt. Lanter warned that officers were responding quickly to BB-gun and airsoft incidents, which created danger to civilians and police,” the complaint says.

After reviewing audio and the incident detail report, it was determined that the incident “did not meet the definition of a drive-by shooting.”

Despite ECC leadership being notified about training and classification issues, the complaint says there was still a “systemic failure,” which led to Jordan’s death in August 2024.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges the city and ECC leadership knew and concealed information about the miscoded call that officers responded to the day of the crash.

McClendon is suing the city for the wrongful death of her son, his physical injuries from the crash, reckless misclassification and dispatch, reckless misconduct of ECC supervisors, and misrepresentation and concealment of information.

She is seeking at least $25,000 in compensatory damages and all other expenses related to Jordan’s death.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.