Newark to Pay $4.1M Over 911 Error

by William Kleinknecht
The Star-Ledger

Jury Finds Newark Should Pay $4.1M for 911 Mistakes
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- The city of Newark should pay $4.1 million to the family of a Seton Hall student who was killed by her ex-boyfriend because 911 personnel botched a call reporting the woman's abduction, an Essex County jury has found.

The city plans to appeal the negligence award in the 2000 death of Sohayla Massachi. Her family charged that an operator gave the wrong make and model of the car she was pulled into, and that a dispatcher then failed to issue an alert for the vehicle.
Family lawyer Brian J. Levine said Wednesday that the errors may not have prevented Massachi's death, ``It certainly increased the risk of death and harm.''

However, city lawyer Raymond L. Hamlin said that the legal standard that was used in the trial _ an increased risk _ is generally reserved for medical malpractice cases and was improperly allowed by state Superior Court Judge Verna G. Leath, who sits in Newark.

``Obviously, what happened to Miss Massachi was horrendous,'' the city's lawyer said. ``We all know that it was the ex-boyfriend who abducted her and took her back to his apartment and ultimately took her life.''
In its May 15 verdict, the jury determined that Massachi's estate was due $5.5 million in damages: $3 million for wrongful death, $2.5 million for pain and suffering, and $12,000 for funeral expenses. The jury found Newark was 75 percent responsible, which amounts to $4.1 million.

Seton Hall was found liable for 15 percent, and the school's security firm, Argenbright Security Inc., was allocated 10 percent of the damages. The school and company reached a confidential settlement before trial, Levine said.

Massachi, 23, of Union, was abducted May 10, 2000, in South Orange in front of Seton Hall University by Christopher Honrath, 24, of Westfield. He took her to his apartment, shot her in the head and killed himself.

Her estate charged that the mistakes by the Newark 911 operator, who dispatched the emergency call for the area near the university, and the police dispatcher led authorities to miss ``any opportunity they would have had to save the young woman's life.''
A number of people saw Honrath pull a struggling Massachi into his car, including an off-duty Essex County sheriff's officer who called 911.
But 911 operator Debony Venable responded by saying ``what are (police) going to do, by the time they come out this car will be gone,'' according to court papers.

Venable wrote Honrath was driving a Chevrolet Blazer instead of a Plymouth Laser, failed to note that the vehicle was moving, and didn't keep the off-duty officer on the line so that the officer could update authorities as to where Honrath was going, said court papers.

Also, a police dispatcher, George Mike, sent a police unit to the scene, but did not issue a general police alert on the vehicle _ something required under police procedures, court documents said.

Police learned about Honrath's whereabouts when his roommate called Westfield police, saying that Honrath had pulled a woman into his room by her hair and that the woman was screaming about Honrath having a gun.

When the Westfield police got to Honrath's door and yelled that police were outside, they heard two gunshots. They waited for an hour for the Union County Emergency Response Team to arrive before entering. Honrath was already dead, and Massachi died at the hospital two days later.