Gina Conteh said the county made her a scapegoat when Johns Creek resident Darlene Dukes died after waiting an hour for that ambulance.

"The Fulton County director, and other upper management team members clearly knew she was not capable of handling that position," said Conteh's attorney Rory Starkey.

The lawsuit claims "discipline in this case was political" and "intense media scrutiny called for a termination."

An audit revealed systemic problems in the 911 center and then director, Rocky Moore, quit after a Channel 2 Action News investigation exposed that at the time of the incident, Conteh was working a more complicated dispatcher job, for which managers had deemed her unqualified and refused her a promotion.

Channel 2’s Jodie Fleischer obtained Conteh's time sheet for that week, which showed that she'd already worked 62 hours, with back-to-back double shifts in the days before the incident.

"To have a person in that position who's responsible for lives, not to be properly managed, to be working out of class, to be working the overtime my client and other 911 operators were working, is irresponsible," said Starkey.

He admitted that Conteh made mistakes when she misunderstood the caller's street address, and sent the ambulance to Sandy Springs instead of Johns Creek. The county's procedure for dispatching ambulances had changed the day before the incident, and records showed several dispatchers had problems in the first few days. The county audit criticized the 911 center's management, training, equipment, and staffing.

"It was of some concern. However as a result of all of this we've made some significant changes and things are a lot better," said County Commissioner Robb Pitts.

The new director has already filled staffing vacancies and made equipment changes. A new report released earlier this year commended the center on its improvement.

The lawsuit claims Conteh was improperly fired and that the county wrongly denied her unemployment benefits. She later won them back in court.

Pitts said the county plans to fight the suit vigorously.

"It's my understanding that we the county, the personnel department in particular, followed all of our procedures to the letter of the law," he said.

But Starkey contests that claim.