Mislabeled Sign Blamed for EMS Delay in Tennessee

A mislabeled road sign may have contributed to the delay in emergency response when a runner collapsed during the Missionary Ridge Road Race, officials said.

John Bruner, the 19-year-old runner, died after falling near the end of Saturday's 4.7-mile race, close to the entrance to Bragg Reservation.

The street sign directly in front of the reservation shows where South Crest Road intersects itself. At the time of the race, one side of the road was listed as the 100 block of South Crest, while the intersecting road showed it as the 400 block, said Ken Wilkerson, chief of Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services.

The first two 911 callers to report the incident gave the wrong street address, at 8:43 a.m. and 8:50 a.m., respectively. The ambulance arrived at 9:01, 18 minutes after the first call, according to Hamilton County Emergency Services.

According to Robert Stroud, who lives at 188 S. Crest Road, Mr. Bruner collapsed near the mislabeled sign, away from any visible mailboxes.

"Our neighbors were blacktopping their driveway, so there were no mailboxes out," Mr. Stroud said. "The only thing to look at was the sign."

According to Chief Wilkerson, 400 S. Crest Road, the first address given to dispatchers, is "a way south" of 169 S. Crest Road, where the incident occurred. The second address given, 100 S. Crest Road, is at least a quarter of a mile in the opposite direction, he said.

"I know the frustrations on everybody's side, but this is a time to fix things and not point fingers," Chief Wilkerson said.

Officials with the Chattanooga Department of Public Works said employees came to the intersection Thursday morning and removed the "4," replacing it with a "1."

Chief Wilkerson said there is no way for him to know if the first 911 caller gave the wrong address because of the mislabeled sign, but the wrong address delayed the ambulance.

"The fact that we were given the wrong address was the major contributing factor in the response time for the ambulance," he said.

Richard Beeland, spokesman for Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, said mislabeled signs are not uncommon.

"We're constantly searching for and correcting problems with signage such as this," he said. "Once it's brought to our attention, we promptly make the change."

Mr. Beeland said he does not know why the street was mislabeled as the 400 block, but that the city will conduct an investigation into the error.

Correcting mislabeled street signs and incorrectly numbered residences often causes headaches for the city because homeowners get upset about the inconvenience, Mr. Beeland said. The incident Saturday reinforced that any inconvenience is worth it, he said.

"I'm sure that there are a few (mislabeled signs in the city)," he said. "It doesn't really matter if there's only one. When something like what happened Saturday takes place, it's one too many."

E-mail Kelli Gauthier at kgauthier@timesfreepress.com