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MGM Grand bypassed 911 after showroom accident
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Vicente Rodriguez
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Jul. 24, 2010 | 2:37 a.m.
When stage rigger Vicente Rodriguez last year fell almost 40 feet to his death in a showroom on the Strip, the hotel's security office did not dial 911, according to the Metropolitan Police Department office that processes emergency calls.
Best practice in an emergency is to dial 911, not a back-channel number, according to county and health district representatives who plan and monitor emergency medical services.
Instead, the MGM Grand seems to have directly dialed American Medical Response, a private ambulance company, which transported Rodriguez, 20, to the hospital.
Bypassing 911 removed police from the equation. That means no police report, which could be a source of information for possible litigation, ever was created.
A half hour after Rodriguez's fall, the hotel dialed 311, a nonemergency number, to notify police of the accident, which happened May 20, 2009. According to the times given in police and hospital records, University Medical Center's trauma unit pronounced Rodriguez dead while the 311 call was still in progress.
The Police Department's 311 record contradicts the MGM Grand's own incident report, which says, "911 contacted at 2223 hours."
Rodriguez fell at 10:22 p.m. Police logged the 311 call as starting at 10:51 p.m.
The hotel has declined to discuss the accident or its aftermath, which resulted in safety fines for both the MGM Grand and Rhino Las Vegas, a rigging company that hired Rodriguez for a one-night job at the hotel.
The hotel report is part of the file compiled when the Nevada Occupational Safety & Health Administration investigated the accident.
"We discourage that," bypassing 911, for several reasons, said Mike Harwell, a Clark County official who sits on the oversight committee for fire and medical emergency dispatch. Rory Chetalat of the Southern Nevada Health District's office agreed.
A key reason is the shorter arrival time for fire department paramedics, compared with the required response time for private ambulances. The Southern Nevada dispatch system is called "dual response," in that a 911 call triggers two crews to an accident: one fire department paramedic team to stabilize the injured at the scene and one private team to take the injured to a hospital.
In the Rodriguez case, paramedics were on the scene in six minutes. Both AMR and Clark County Fire Department units arrived at 10:28 p.m., according to the hotel's incident report.
The franchise agreement governing the two local private ambulance companies requires them to respond if their offices receive a direct emergency phone call; as well, the private companies must then send an electronic message to the office that dispatches fire and paramedic units.
Harwell said government officials who work in emergency response have been educating the public for at least the past decade to call only 911. Formerly, when the Las Vegas Valley had only one private ambulance company, hotels sometimes dialed the company direct.
"I think 911 would be easier to remember than a seven-digit (phone) number," Harwell added.
An "old-school" MGM Grand employee might have called AMR instead of 911, Harwell theorized. But employees at several Strip hotels told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that if they dial 911 on a hotel phone or hotel radio, it connects them with the hotel's security office, which then decides how to place the call to outside authorities.
Although Rodriguez's fatal fall happened more than a year ago, details have just started coming out.
In June, the Nevada Occupational Safety & Health Administration settled with Rhino Las Vegas, the MGM subcontractor for whom Rodriguez was working when he died of a snapped neck. Nevada OSHA settled a related case with the hotel itself in late 2009. MGM Grand and Rhino Las Vegas paid a total of $23,800 in OSHA penalties.
The victim's mother, Marychris Rodriguez, began to discuss the accident publicly only recently. In the spring, she filed a complaint with federal OSHA that the Nevada agency did not adequately investigate the death, which occurred while her son was helping take down and pack equipment for the Tom Jones show, which had finished a run.
Rhino Las Vegas has declined to discuss the accident.
The victim's mother said she has requested records from both AMR and the fire-medical dispatch office for Southern Nevada -- which is downtown at Las Vegas Fire & Rescue headquarters -- in hopes of understanding the details of the dispatch and transportation that occurred after his accident.
Contact reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely@review journal.com or 702-383-0268.
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MGM directs all its employees not to call 911, you must call 55911 which gives you in house security.
Joe .Destito - If the police had been called 1/2 hour earlier, Vicente would have still died. If it was my kid, I would want him or her to receive the quickest professional care possible. Vicente got that. Instead of suing folks who may not be liable for this accident (MGM), his mother should go after the rigging company and NOSHA like I said earlier. And you Joe, you should head directly to Border's and pick up a dictionary immediately.
To Mr.Juan.Sanchez: Does it make you feel special when you accuse the deceased of being an illegal? Have you read any history books lately? I feel sorry for you because you probably have no friends, low self esteem and no social life. Hope I've made your day.
@phred " No laws appear to have been broken"
your a prime example of how ignorant this country has become..... how can anything appear anyway from you reading some typed sentences?
If it was some poor person who waited a 1/2 hour to inform thhe police of your childs snapped neck you would be all over it. YOU ARE A HIPPOCRITE...
What exactly did NOSHA do wrong? or are you one of those pro buisness anti government clowns that values the dollar over human life?
@JK these people on here are scumbags...my advice as someone who lost someone they care about is to not even look at these comments.
These people care more about buisness than they do human life. I am sorry for your loss and I hope you have found or will find peace with it.
That being said.
@JuanSanchez...how can you say they did nothing wrong? They waited a half hour to call anyone with any authority to investigate anything. I'd rather have a city full of illegals than POS's like yourself... I would love to meet you so I can do nothing wrong
Jaun.sanchez, he was not an "illegal". He was a kid who grew up in las vegas. I am a friend of his mother and it is ridiculous that you would have absolutely heartless feelings that a young person died because you wrongly think he should not have been in this country. I wonder how you would feel if this was your kid and someone said this about them. RIP Vicente.
MGM did nothing wrong. he was dead right away, no need for making a big ruckus, besides he was an illegal.
The man died of a snapped neck. Rescue was there within 6 minutes. No laws appear to have been broken. The only lawsuit should be the victim's mother suing the rigging company and the Nevada branch of OSHA.
@virga.rain: read the article...they waited 30 minutes then dialed 311 a half hour later.
So lets look at this from another perspective.
Your kid is at my house. Said child falls and snaps neck. I call my associate at AMR we take your dead kid to the hospital, meanwhile a half an hour later I call 311 and say oh yeah, virga rain's kid died at my house....
Would your response still be...so whats the problem?
You can sue an employer. However, it is difficult and you must prove intent instead of negligence. There are also other avenues and claims, such as products liability, against other parties, other than the employer, that can be pursued.