Texas emergency operator jailed for 911 call hang ups

Image source, Houston Police Department

Image caption, Crenshanda Williams terminated calls from people including reports of robberies and murders

A former 911 operator in Houston, Texas has been found guilty of hanging up on emergency calls.

Crenshanda Williams, 44, was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 18 months of probation for interfering with emergency telephone calls.

The Harris County district attorney's office said Ms Williams systematically hung up on emergency reports.

Calls she terminated included reports of robberies, speeding vehicles, and murders, records showed.

Prosecutors said Ms Williams had worked as a 911 operator for 18 months, ending in 2016.

The district attorney's office said the recording system kept a report of whether it was the caller or the operator who disconnected the call.

It showed that thousands of calls shorter than 20 seconds were attributed to her hanging up, the court heard.

Ms Williams hung up because at those times she did not want to talk to anyone, she told investigators.

"Citizens rely on 911 operators to dispatch help in their time of need. When a public servant betrays the community's trust and breaks the law, we have a responsibility to hold them criminally accountable," Assistant District Attorney Lauren Reeder said in a statement.