Dispatcher Prevented Suicide

A county dispatcher is being credited with helping save a suicidal man’s life.

Spokane County sheriff’s communication officer Margaret Dearduff was referred a call on May 15 from a concerned resident who reported a strange vehicle parked near her West Rutter Parkway home.

Dearduff could have dispatched the call later as a low-priority abandoned car, Sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick said Tuesday.

But her decision to immediately alert deputies to the suspicious vehicle helped prevent the suicide, Wiyrick said.

Dearduff said she became concerned because the caller said the car’s lights were on. The dispatcher worried that someone was looking for help.

When the first deputy arrived, he found a hose leading from the exhaust pipe into the car. Inside was a 22-year-old man.

The man was angry at deputies for intervening. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Dearduff, 32, who’s been working for the sheriff’s department for a year, previously was a 911 dispatcher. She spent more than five years working in Air Force law enforcement.

“Every once in a while you make a difference,” she said. “You realize that this is why you do what you do.” , DataTimes