SPRING LAKE, Mich. — The family of a man killed by his 25-year-old son is suing the Ottawa County Central Dispatch Authority and several individual dispatchers for the way they handled two 911 calls made on the day of his murder.
Back in December 2019, Kenneth Boone was staying at his father's house in Spring Lake, Michigan, while actively dealing with serious mental health issues.
On December 1 at 6:15 a.m., Kenneth called 911 saying he wanted police to come and arrest him because he did not feel safe with his father.
"Hi this is Kenneth Boone. I'm not feeling safe with my dad right now," Kenneth told the dispatcher.
Kenneth's 64-year-old father James Boone can be heard in the background saying "Come on."
James was able to take control of the phone and elaborate on the situation.
"Sir, I'm gonna get an officer out that way for you. Why would he say that he wants to be arrested?" the dispatcher asked James.
He responded, "Because he knows that that he could do something bad to me."
James also told them that his son had just stopped taking his psychiatric medication.
However, despite these warning signs, police were not dispatched to the home until Kenneth made a second unsettling call to 911.
That call came into dispatch over an hour later, at 7:24 a.m..
"I f—ing killed my dad," Kenneth told a different dispatcher.
When police arrived, they found James Boone dead on the floor of his home, and Kenneth outside with a bloody hammer.
Kenneth says during the second call that he used the hammer to kill his father.
He was later convicted of his father's murder and sent to prison.
The family of James Boone is asking for more than $25,000 in damages, alleging that dispatchers should have sent officers after the first call Kenneth made.
The case was filed in federal court, and it is still in the initial stages of the court system.
