Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong countered, in a press release, a negative 911 story alleging mishandled calls at the Lehigh County Emergency 911 Management Center. The unusual statement, according to Armstrong, is to allay concerns the public might have about the effectiveness of the emergency call center which is operated by Lehigh County.

“Normally, we would not comment on pending litigation, but the baseless allegations made in a recent federal court filing are so inaccurate and so damaging to the public trust that we needed to correct the record,” said Armstrong in his statement.

Armstrong said all related conversations and calls were recorded and have been reviewed.

A local daily newspaper headlined a story wherein a 911 dispatcher on July 27, 2020, allegedly hung up on a caller who was speaking Spanish. The call was (according to the story in the newspaper) from a man in a burning residence on North Fair St. in Allentown.

The man, Heriberto Santiago Jr., died along with a child, Andres Javier Ortiz.

Armstrong’s statement asserts that the initial call (in English) reporting the fire was made two minutes before Santiago’s call came in and that police and fire assets were on the way to the address.

According to the statement at least one call came into the center in Spanish and that it was immediately transferred to a “translation line” and that the call was handled properly.

It also says that Santiago’s call was in English, contrary to what was reported by the local daily newspaper.

This accusation is one of several others included in a federal lawsuit filed by seven former Lehigh County Emergency 911 Management Center employees who had been fired.