Plush Family and Cincinnati Agree to 911 Improvements and Financial Settlement
Cincinnati April 9, 2021. Today, on the eve of the third anniversary of the death of Kyle Plush, the City and the Plush Family have agreed to resolve a lawsuit filed by the family seeking damages and meaningful improvement of the City Emergency Communication Center (ECC).
Ron and Jill Plush and their lawyer Al Gerhardstein will meet with the press today, April 9, 2021, at Daniel Drake Park (5800 red bank road, Cincinnati, OH, 45213) at 5 p.m.
The settlement provides for a payment of six million dollars to the Plush Family.
The City has expended considerable energy and resources to improve the ECC over the past three years, including:
Changing leadership at the ECC
Embracing data-based approaches
Insuring higher retention rates of ECC employees
Providing call response times that exceed national standards
Upgrading mapping software in police vehicles with 911 caller locations,
Amending procedures to emergency calls classified as “unknown trouble”
Beyond the strides already taken, the City has committed in this agreement to additional efforts for continuous improvement of emergency response through appointing an expert team to assess and advise on recommendations for current ECC operations. The City will maintain transparency regarding the status of the ECC through public reporting of expert recommendations and progress. The Plush Family remains inspired by Kyle to work for 911 reform through the Kyle Plush Answer the Call Foundation.