SHEFFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio — The family of a fallen Sheffield Village police lieutenant believes a 911 system failure contributed to his death.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed this week in Lorain County Common Pleas Court claims actions at Lorain County 911 constituted “a conscious, willful, reckless, and wanton disregard” for public safety.
“This definitely was life or death,” said Brian Balser, an attorney representing the Bober family.
Aaron Bober collapsed at his Sheffield Village home on November 21, 2025.
In a 911 call, his wife Kaitlin, a certified RN, told the dispatcher she was performing chest compressions while waiting for first responders to arrive.
More than 9 minutes into the 911 call, first responders still had not arrived at the home.
Balser said the delay stemmed from an automated alert system failure at the Lorain County 911 dispatch center. According to the lawsuit, when the system went down, dispatchers did not switch to the manual backup or alert the involved agencies.
"For some reason, even having knowledge that the system was down, they continued to use a non-functioning system," Balser said. "Losing your husband is difficult. But then to find out that it was a direct result of a failure on a 911. That's why we're here."
He said the Sheffield Village Fire Department was not aware that crews were being dispatched on the call until a captain noticed an alert on a separate app that the agency uses.
Balser said the captain called Lorain County 911 himself to verify the call was for Sheffield Village Fire.
"[The dispatcher] acknowledged when they called in: 'Yeah, it's down. I'm making the supervisor aware,'" Balser said.
In a letter to the Sheffield Village fire chief, the 911 director said dispatch was aware of the problem nearly 90 minutes before Bober's call but did not page the involved agencies.
In a statement from the Sheffield Village Fire Department, the fire chief called Bober a highly respected and beloved colleague. He said the system failure that day more than tripled the department's typical response time, from an average of 1 minute and 18 seconds to approximately 4 minutes and 32 seconds.
The department declined to comment further on the lawsuit.
The attorney representing Lorain County 911 and the county also declined to comment.
Balser said medical experts who reviewed Bober's records concluded the delay was fatal.
"We've had all the medical records looked at by my experts. And they all say, but for the delay, Aaron would still be alive," he said.
The lawsuit does not request specific damages at this time. Balser said the goal is accountability and systemic change.
"We want to make sure the system works like it's supposed to and for the safety of the Lorain County residents, too," Balser said.
Catherine Ross is the Lorain County reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @CatherineRossTV, on Facebook CatherineRossTV or email her at Catherine.Ross@wews.com.
