Delay in response probed

WOBURN -- Two firefighters have been suspended for a week without pay after city officials investigated the response time of an ambulance to the Woburn home of a Reading police officer who was having a fatal heart attack.

Mayor John C. Curran acknowledged the delay. He said the firefighters served their suspensions last month and that officials were deciding whether other firefighters will be disciplined.

Curran said an administrative investigation focused on the events surrounding Charles Lentini's death on March 11.

''We're investigating the conduct into the response time in this incident," said Curran. ''We are pursuing it from a disciplinary angle because the investigation seemed to warrant it. Our biggest concern is that we're providing the best public safety service that we can."

Jack Baccari, a Wakefield attorney representing Lentini's family, said he is preparing a civil lawsuit against the city alleging there was a significant delay in the defibrillator-equipped ambulance reaching the 53-year-old police officer's home on Boline Place after fire officials were notified by telephone at 12:10 a.m.

''There was an unreasonable delay," said Baccari. ''We're still getting the facts."

A Woburn police officer was the first public safety official to respond to Lentini's home, and he began cardiopulmonary resuscitation immediately, said Baccari. The officer was soon joined by firefighters from Engine 4, stationed at Central Street and Montvale Avenue, but the ambulance coming from the Central Square fire station at 654 Main St. arrived much later, the attorney charged.

The first responders ''were performing CPR, but there was no defibrillator there," he said. Lentini was taken to Winchester Hospital where he later died.

But Curran said all city firetrucks are equipped with defibrillators and firefighters from Engine 4 used one on Lentini.

Curran said emergency 911 calls are fielded by a police dispatcher, who then sends the call to the Fire Department if necessary. Then a fire dispatcher notifies every station in the city and dispatches the closest engine and the ambulance.

Curran said Engine 4 is stationed slightly closer to Lentini's house than the ambulance.

One city official familiar with the administrative probe said it took the Fire Department dispatcher about 2 1/2 minutes to dispatch the call and then another 4 minutes elapsed before the firefighters assigned to the department ambulance left the station. The official said the city's review has not uncovered any criminal behavior.

Baccari said it remains unclear if the late response by the ambulance contributed to Lentini's death, agreeing the civil suit could hinge on medical testimony.

Lentini, a Reading police officer for 20 years, leaves his wife, Kathleen, and two daughters.