CARROLLTON, OH —A 62-year-old Carrollton area man was found unconscious and unresponsive Thursday morning during an intense search overnight by Carroll County sheriff deputies, an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper and the patrol’s airplane. Two K-9 units, several fire departments and 100 individuals on foot also were involved in the search for the man, who Sheriff Dale Williams said fled his residence on Kensington Rd. after a domestic disturbance call to deputies.
The man, who was treated at the scene by emergency medical technicians, was taken to Aultman Hospital and released Thursday afternoon. Sheriff Sgt. Ron Clapper and firefighters found the man about 1 a.m. after 11 hours of searching in an area just north of Augusta, including Manfull Orchards, where there is a Verizon cell phone tower.
Williams said he attempted to use the man’s cell phone signal to locate him, but the man was behind on his phone bill and the Verizon operator refused to connect the signal unless the sheriff’s department agreed to pay the overdue bill. After some disagreement, Williams agreed to pay $20 on the phone bill in order to find the man. But deputies discovered the man just as Williams was preparing to make arrangements for the payment. The sheriff organized the search party for the man after deputies responded to the domestic call Wednesday at 2:21 p.m. at the Kensington Rd. residence. The sheriff said the caller said the man was destroying the house and breaking windows and other items.
But when deputies arrived they were told the man had fled and had taken several bottles of pills.
“I was more concerned for the person’s life,” Williams said. “It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill. Ridiculous.” Williams said he doesn’t know how close the situation was to becoming a tragedy because he’s not a doctor, but he thinks the man’s condition was very serious.
Sounds like interfering in an ongoing investigation, assuming they had the legal right to request the man’s cell phone be tracked.
Boycott Verizon.
Yep, they are cold calculating bastards.
Somebody made a policy and said no exceptions. That person needs a lay off without pay.
This is going to cost them.
I read this a couple of days ago and was flabbergasted. Or was it flubbergusted? I can easily see that, since they were trying to find a man accused of a crime, Verizon would be in the right to demand a warrant. But not a payment. No way. NO WAY! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? And how in the hell do they get away with blackmailing the SHERIFF for cryin’ out loud?
Last week my car battery was dead at the airport parking lot. Called AAA. Parking lot would not let the truck in the lot without paying to enter and the driver did not have cash.
Whole thing took about 2 extra hours to coordinate me walking to the cashiers office to pay $5.50 so the truck could give me a jump.
But I’m not upset at all.
Verizon… pay notice!
This scenario isn’t as bad as it will be under Obama’s national health care where a man around that age who has a life threatening disease won’t get treatment at all because it won’t be cost effective.
#8, Wardie,
Perhaps you could fill us plebeians in on the details of the new National Health Plan. You seem to know the details that the Committee drafting the plans don’t.
#8. Cripes!
#8 – Warden… I must have missed that Obamahammed has released his health care plan. Please, can you give me a link? Oh, and afterwards, maybe you could stay on topic and leave your Alex Jones’s rants in the outhouse.
I would like to say Thanks to the Sheriff for going the extra mile in trying to save someone’s life.
The word of the day is LAWSUIT….AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!
#13 – I find it remarkable that it took 13 comments before someone commended the sheriff’s willingness to pony up the funds in order to find this person. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen comments on this blog that were nothing but rants against “criminal police.”
This sheriff acted out of concern for this person’s safety, and he should absolutely be commended.
Verizon should be ashamed.
They wanted Verizon to turn his phone on? What is this feature?
What can one say? When you’re an f-ing monopoly, paying bills comes before saving lives. Are these cell phones supposed to have 911 service, regardless of cancellation? So wouldn’t reverse tracking be a part of that? Or does Congress have to pass another bill, spelling out exactly what emergency services these monopoly carriers are responsible for? If Verizon won’t help the local cops, then they are potentially aiding serial killers and child abusers. I’m pretty sure Verizon doesn’t want to be implicated in that way. Like the “sleeping technician” video. Maybe they need to be embarrassed again, in order to do the right thing in the future. At least until the heat blows over. Then they’ll change policy again to screw everyone again.
# 8 The Warden – good point…
As a employee of a telecom firm, there should be an agreement in place between emergency agencies and telecom firms. Something like this should never have happened but instead it appears the sheriff was routed to a generic call center rather than a group equipped to handle such emergencies.