April 14, 2005


Questions remain

Emergency dispatch system still flawed after 911 call is rerouted

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

Early Monday morning, a 77-year-old man appeared to deliberately drive his car into Lake Almaden, taking his three pet cats with him to a watery grave.

Police retrieved a taupe-colored Honda Accord from Lake Almaden Monday morning. Inside was a 77-year-old man who allegedly committed suicide, taking his three small pet cats with him.

By 10 a.m., divers located the vehicle, which came to rest upside down in approximately 30 feet of murky water. Little visibility and locked doors hampered divers’ efforts to recover the body and a tow truck had to be called in to retrieve the car from the lake.

At 11:20 a.m., nearly three hours later, emergency crews pulled a taupe-colored Honda Accord to shore. Press Information Officer Sgt. Nick Muyo said the elderly man was still sitting behind the wheel and was pronounced dead at the scene. Three adult cats, all found still in their carriers, also perished.

Muyo said that the department is handling the incident as a fatal traffic accident, even though the vehicle ended up in an area away from the parking lot and off a service road not normally open to through traffic. He admitted it appears the car was deliberately driven into the water and investigators are looking into the possibility that the man committed suicide.

“If you look at the way this park is situated, this isn’t a carryover of something that happened on the street,” he said. “This is not an auto accident where someone lost control of their car and came crashing through the fence. This car was deliberately driven into the lake or forced into the lake here.”

ust two weeks on the job, newly appointed Press Information Officer Sgt. Nick Muyo has given the department its money’s worth, as he speaks with the press after a car drove into the lake Monday morning at Lake Almaden.

On Wednesday, the police had yet to release the man’s name and the coroner had not yet determined the cause of death. However, according to a San Jose Mercury News report, he has been identified as Theodore Langendorf of San Jose.

The news came as a surprise to Donna DiMinico, program director for long-term care support services at Catholic Charities of Silicon Valley. She also runs its ombudsman program.

“If the Theodore Langendorf mentioned in the SJMN article is the same Ted Langendorf who volunteered in our program, I can confirm that after extensive training he was certified,” she says of the widower. “As a volunteer ombudsman, his job was to advocate for people in long-term care facilities and he was carrying out those duties. Ted was a dedicated advocate for the residents in the skilled nursing facility where he was assigned.”

One lone eyewitness, a Campbell resident stood near the scene at the lake shaking his head and asking why.
“I was hoping there wasn’t a body in there,” Rick (last name withheld) kept saying. “It was hard to stand here and not do anything if someone was down there.”

A “still-flawed” emergency dispatch system
Rick said that shortly after 8 a.m., he was headed home after dropping his daughter off at a Santa Teresa school and was sitting at the intersection of Coleman and Winfield when he saw a car splash into the lake. He immediately drove into the park and called 911 from his cell phone. By the time his call reached the local authorities, 19 minutes had passed.

“My call was forwarded to Monterey and then the CHP before I reached San Jose Police,” he said. “The paramedics arrived while I was still on the phone, but by then I guess it was too late.”

After locating the vehicle in 30 feet of murky water, divers had to turn the car over before pulling it from the lake and recovering the body of one man and three adult cats. Photo by Car 19 Photo

It is apparent that all the bugs in the new 911 system launched earlier this year have not yet been worked out, as all calls with a 408 area code—even those originating from cell phones are supposed to be routed directly to local authorities.

“I have no idea why it didn’t come straight to us this time and I’ll have to look into that,” Muyo said. “Clearly it would have been several minutes before anyone would have got on the scene. Even if the dive team had arrived immediately, they’d still have to suit up and it’s probably unlikely that the outcome would have changed. But I still want to know why his call got bounced around.”

Until the kinks are worked out, it is advised to program the direct number to police dispatch into all phones and set it up in speed dial fashion, much like you would 911. That number is (408) 277-8911.

“If you live in the city of San Jose and you drive around with your cell phone, it makes perfect sense to have the direct number programmed into your phone just in case,” Muyo said. “Otherwise, it could be rerouted to Vallejo and it could take us considerable time to reach you.”