Charges dismissed against 3 Greene County emergency management supervisors in woman's 2020 death
A judge has dismissed all charges against three Greene County emergency management supervisors who had been accused of obstructing an investigation into a dispatcher accused of failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who died of internal bleeding about a day later.
Senior Judge Katherine Emery wrote in dismissing the cases last week that there was "not a scintilla of evidence" that Gregory Leathers, Robert "Jeff" Rhodes and Richard Policz acted maliciously or blocked investigators from accessing information within the Greene County 911 call center, The (Washington) Observer-Reporter reported.
The three were charged last year with tampering with public records, tampering with or fabricating evidence and obstruction. Prosecutors accused them of providing incomplete records in response to a search warrant in the July 2020 death of 54-year-old Diania Kronk.
Emergency dispatcher Leon "Lee" Price, 50, of Waynesburg, was earlier charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and other counts based on his reluctance to dispatch help without getting more assurance that Kronk would actually go to the hospital.
On July 1, 2020, Kronk's daughter, Kelly Titchenell, called 911 and said her mother was turning yellow and unresponsive. Price initially said he would send an ambulance, but then repeatedly told Titchenell that they needed her mother's consent to transport even though Titchenell said she could not speak. Price even suggested that Titchenell hang up and call back later.
No ambulance was dispatched, and Kronk died the next day.
The three supervisors were charged with blocking access to information on standard operating procedures and other documents, but the judge ruled that a policy memo binder detailing standard operating procedures that was at the center of the prosecution's case was "in plain view and not concealed."
Two defense attorneys slammed the handling of the investigation and the decision to file charges.
"That case is garbage and was filed for political purposes from the get-go," said attorney David Pollock, who represented Leathers. Rhodes' attorney Harry Cancelmi said the case — which he said cost his client his time, money and his reputation, "should have never been filed at all."
Emery also dismissed lesser charges against Price, including official oppression and obstruction of justice, but allowed two misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment to proceed. His defense attorney, Timothy Ross, declined comment.
