LCSO deputy fired after failing to respond to 911 call

Author: wink news
Published: Updated:

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- A deputy was fired for an on-duty decision that may have cost a woman her life.

Deputy Yvan Fernandez is no longer employed with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office after he failed to respond to that 911 call on March 13.

WINK News first uncovered reports that Deputy Fernandez was dispatched to a call and said he was on his way, but instead Sheriff Mike Scott says Fernandez went to lunch.

“”He got the call and he acknowledged the call and didn’t give any reason why he wouldn’t respond. We had every reason to believe that he was going to respond to that call,” said Scott.

The caller on the other end of that line is believed to be 47-year-old Gwen Minnis who was unable to speak to dispatch and ended up dying outside of a Fort Myers home. Three days earlier, Minnis had just gotten out of the hospital after having a heart attack.

Dispatch reports show the call went out around 1 p.m. in the afternoon. Officials say Fernandez did acknowledge the call for service of a 911 open line.

However, a sheriff’s report obtained by WINK News says Fernandez was instead sitting at a restaurant eating lunch. A GPS on Fernandez’s patrol car doesn’t put him at the scene until over an hour after the dispatched call.

The daughter of Minnis spoke to WINK News after the incident and says she just wants to know what happened that day.

“I have so many questions but no answers,” said Vonecia Tutson.

Fernandez has hired attorney Sawyer Smith to fight the issue. Smith tells WINK News Fernandez gives the family his deepest condolences.

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