{"id":56905,"date":"2025-07-11T13:06:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/56905\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T13:06:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:06:27","slug":"police-accused-of-stonewalling-family-of-man-who-died-after-making-911-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/56905\/","title":{"rendered":"Police accused of \u2018stonewalling\u2019 family of man who died after making 911 call"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the morning of Aug. 30, 2024, Rick Buerger and Christine Stark arrived at their brother Ralph Buerger\u2019s house in Fonthill, Ont., to find he had died overnight at just 59 years old.<\/p>\n

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They later learned Ralph had contacted 911 at 2:56 a.m., apparently to ask for help, but he\u2019d been unable to speak. The call lasted 35 seconds.<\/p>\n

A recording of the call, released to the family after Global News began asking questions of police, contains what sounds like someone falling to the ground, followed by apparent heavy breathing.<\/p>\n

Despite the sounds appearing audible in the recording, neither police nor paramedics were dispatched to Ralph\u2019s address that night. The family said police promised them an investigation into why a wellness check wasn\u2019t ordered, with officers, they said, acknowledging something had gone wrong.<\/p>\n

Almost a year later, however, Rick and Christine are still waiting to see the results of the investigation into what happened that night, which they were told was complete in October.<\/p>\n

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Rick and Christine say police said they\u2019d have to use freedom of information laws to access a recording of the 911 call and read the investigation. Officers told them the report cleared the operator and police of making any mistake.<\/p>\n

Until Thursday, neither Rick nor Christine had been given access to the recording as they tried to navigate a complicated appeals process and police accountability mechanisms.<\/p>\n

They say the entire ordeal has been traumatic, cruel and unnecessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s even very difficult because it\u2019s not allowing us to actually grieve our brother because we feel like we have to be in a fight for something,\u201d Christine said.<\/p>\n

When Rick and Christine arrived to find their brother had died, and later learned he had tried to make a 911 call, they asked police how it could have happened.<\/p>\n

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A friend of Ralph\u2019s had worked out from his phone records that he had made the call for emergency help. The same friend then contacted police to ask them to look into why nobody was sent to the house.<\/p>\n

Christine said she was told the 911 operator had tried to call back but had not received an answer. Christine said they were told they had checked if Ralph had ever made a call to 911 before and had pinged the phone number and located the area \u2014 within about 30 metres \u2014 where the call had come from.<\/p>\n

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She alleged the police detective she spoke to said that at that point admitted that someone had \u201cmessed up.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey made a mistake because nobody was sent,\u201d she recalled the officer saying.<\/p>\n

Christine said she was told by the detective that he would be surprised if the chief of police was not already looking into how that had happened.<\/p>\n

Niagara Regional Police refused to comment on any elements of the events surrounding the death or the 911 call, including a request from Global News for the force to share its version of events.<\/p>\n

Soon after, however, the police\u2019s attitude appeared to change.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 27, a detective called Rick to inform him that a professional standards investigation into the 911 call had been completed and determined there was \u201cno misconduct\u201d on the part of the operator.<\/p>\n

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In the call, which Global News has heard a copy of, the detective told Rick the 911 operator could not \u201chear any sounds or noises on the call that would cause her concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick said he didn\u2019t understand how the police had gone from telling them somebody had made a mistake to saying there were no issues. Christine agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had good faith in the police at the beginning that they were going to be assisting us through this process,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it just got stonewalled very early on, and it\u2019s been extremely difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Global News has listened to a copy of the 911 call, which police finally shared with Rick this week. In it, the sound of a crash can be heard as well as strained, rhythmic air sounds, which could be breathing.<\/p>\n

Niagara Regional Police did not address questions from Global News about the events in August, citing an ongoing investigation from Ontario\u2019s Inspector General of Policing.<\/p>\n

The Inspector General of Policing\u2019s office refused to comment on the investigation.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tNavigating a complicated appeal process\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Surprised by the change of position from the police, Rick asked for a copy of the 911 call his brother had made to listen to himself. He also requested a copy of the investigation.<\/p>\n

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