Charges dropped against Greene 911 operator who refused to send ambulance to dying woman
Morris Township woman died day after daughter called asking for medical help
The criminal case against the Greene County 911 dispatcher accused of refusing to send an ambulance to a dying woman in July 2020 was dropped Monday after it was revealed that the lead investigator wrote in early internal memos that he couldn’t justify filing charges.
Greene County District Attorney Brianna Vanata said she had no choice but to withdraw the involuntary manslaughter charge and four other misdemeanor counts against Leon Price due to new evidence found during discovery raising questions about the initial investigation into Diania Kronk’s death.
“I know this whole thing has been difficult for (Kronk’s) family,” Vanata said Monday after filing paperwork to withdraw the charges. “I’m bound to do the legally correct thing, and I know that may be difficult for the family.”
Kronk, 54, died July 2, 2020, a day after her daughter, Kelly Titchenell, called 911 asking for an ambulance to be sent to her mother’s Browns Creek Road home in Morris Township after relatives found her incoherent, turning yellow and bleeding. Price declined to send an ambulance during that July 1 call with Titchenell, instead asking whether her mother would even agree to go to the hospital. Kronk was found dead inside her home almost exactly 24 hours later.
But the initial investigation by then Greene County Regional police Chief Zachary Sams apparently concluded that there was a miscommunication between Titchenell and Price, who was expecting her to call back to “confirm” that her mother was willing to receive medical help. In her decision to drop the case, Vanata cited that Aug. 4, 2020 memo by Sams detailing a summation of his investigation into Kronk’s death that concluded Price should not be prosecuted.
“It appears that he has not been properly trained in the duties and actions of his position,” Sams wrote in the memo, which is included in the case files and was produced through discovery. “Due to these facts, I do not believe that the actions, or inactions, of the dispatcher Leon Price rise to the levels necessary to facilitate a criminal charge. Involuntary manslaughter holds a level of gross negligence in order to be found guilty, and I do not believe it exists in this case. I will be recommending to District Attorney David Russo that the case be closed without prosecution, unless further details arise at a later date.”
The case languished for nearly two years until Titchenell filed a federal lawsuit against Price and Greene County on June 16, 2022. Less than two weeks later, Russo announced charges against Price, accusing him of involuntary manslaughter.
Vanata, who defeated Russo in the Republican primary last year and took over as district attorney in January, filed the motion to withdraw the charges during a video conference Monday morning with Senior Judge Katherine Emery of Washington County. Jury selection for Price’s trial was scheduled to begin June 10.
Several internal memos written by Sams summarizing the inquiry into Kronk’s death were included in an April 18 motion by Price’s defense attorney, Timothy Ross, asking for more discovery information in an attempt to learn what changed in the investigation for charges to be filed.
“Though we understand that the Commonwealth withdrew the charges against Mr. Price, we were confident that he would have been acquitted by a jury of his peers,” Ross said Monday in a written statement. “We appreciate District Attorney Vanata reviewing the file and recognizing that Mr. Price’s alleged actions did not necessitate criminal charges. Mr. Price continues to maintain his innocence and is looking forward to putting this case behind him. We hope that this resolution enables Mr. Price to restore his reputation in the community as the upstanding citizen that he is.”
After charges were filed in June 2022, Price was transferred out of the dispatch center to work as a maintenance worker for the county. It was not known if he would attempt to regain his previous position as a dispatcher now that the criminal case against him has been closed. Price has been free on unsecured bond while waiting for his case to be adjudicated.
In a phone interview Monday afternoon, Titchenell said she was disappointed when Vanata called her earlier in the day to inform her of the decision to drop the case.
“I sort of had a feeling something like this would happen last year when the DA switched,” Titchenell said. “I had a feeling this was going to happen. I said it before, and I don’t know why it played out the way it did.”
The federal lawsuit that Titchenell filed has been stalled for nearly two years to allow for the criminal proceedings to move forward against Price and three Greene County emergency supervisors who were also charged in the case, but had their charges dismissed by Emery in November due to lack of evidence. Titchenell thinks her mother’s death would have been forgotten had it not been for her lawsuit.
“I filed a lawsuit, and then it went on the news and everyone asked, ‘Why didn’t they file criminal charges?’ If I didn’t file a civil suit, then criminal charges would’ve never been filed,” she said.
Vanata said the biggest barrier in trying to secure a conviction against Price was the “lack of evidence of causation” between the dispatcher’s actions and Kronk’s death. The coroner’s report indicated Kronk died of natural causes.
But Titchenell said an expert witness was prepared to testify that her mother would still be alive had an ambulance been sent to her home so she could get the proper medical attention she needed.
With the criminal case now over, the civil case is expected to begin working its way through the federal courts. Titchenell said she still gets emotional every time she hears her voice on that ill-fated 911 call and wonders how much more she’ll have to relive of it through the lawsuit.
She now wants people to remember her mother as a kind person, and not for the fallout following her death that made national and international headlines.
“My mother was a good person. She had a heart of gold. She would do anything for anyone,” Titchenell said. “This has been extremely difficult because it’s going on four years, and this has drug out. It’s just been a nightmare. You can’t heal because every time you start to feel better, you have to go in and deal with it again.”