Restraining Order Denied For Dispatch Employees Claiming Workplace Safety Concerns

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento Superior Court Judge denied a workplace restraining order filed by three Sacramento County 911 dispatch center workers against the executive director of the facility.

In April, the three employees of the Sacramento Regional Fire and EMS Communications Center claimed they did not feel safe around Joseph Theusen. A judge granted them a temporary restraining order.

Court documents show claims by dispatch center employees that Thuesen recently became emotional over the suspicious death of a family friend, and that
he is capable of committing a murder-suicide.

Documents show an employee recalling Thuesen saying: "I have an Arsenal at home;" "It will be on like Donkey Kong;" "There is such a thing as vigilante justice;" and "If I could pack a gun, I would."

Theusen filed his own court documents Wednesday saying one of the claimants, Diane House, has "an axe to grind" against him. He states that in their time working together she has often "appeared hypersensitive, emotional, and paranoid at work." He also detailed an "internal, confidential investigation into Ms. House on the basis of racial biases" he started in February. He claims he heard her make a number of racially insensitive statements and received an employee complaint.

He says allegations that he has weapons at home are false because "his niece died tragically when she was five-years-old in a firearm accident, and it is his family's choice, particularly since that tragic accident, to refrain from owning firearms."

The Cameron Park resident further states he "regularly uses the phrase, 'It's on like Donkey Kong'.. amongst his (four) kids, friends, and co-workers" in reference to the old Nintendo game.

As for House's claim that he said "There is such a thing as vigilante justice" while discussing the death of his best friend's 14-year-old son, Theusen says what he really said was the beginning of Psalm 94:15, "Justice will prevail."

Thuesen served in the Marines and has a law degree. he started working at the dispatch center in March 200 and says he has received 48 life-saving awards. He was appointed Interim Executive Director in December 2017 and appointed to the permanent position in August 2018.