Calling 911---tell us your stories

[kansasdad]

Over the years I have had an occasion to call 911 for various reasons. I have called after hearing a crash at a nearby intersection, after seeing pieces of electrical transformers/wiring in the street, and I've called to report a grass fire.

My weirdest 911 call happened years ago during my commute to work. Waiting to turn right at a light, I noticed that the brake lights on the car in front of me were flickering. Not really paying any attention, I made my turn and continued to follow this car. As we proceeded along, I now saw that there seemed to be a pattern to the flashing brake lights. Boy Scouts Morse Code learning popped into my head, and I remembered that SOS would be three shorts/three longs/three shorts.

"NO WAY" I said out loud. Now I was fully engaged. Was there really a pattern to the flashing? dit dit dit dot dot dot dit dit dit. Again, three shorts, three longs and three shorts. Watching again, my mind too full of Columbo, Matlock, and Murder She Wrote episodes, I began to wonder if someone was in this car's trunk and trying to send out an SOS message, or was I just nuts?

Pulling out my cell phone, I dialed 911 after another for sure 3/3/3 flashes came out in the proper sequence.

"911, what is your emergency?"

I started off....." I probably have just watched too many TV detective shows, but the break lights on the car in front of me are flashing in an SOS sequence"

Very professionally, the 911 operator began to ask the pertinent questions.....where are you, what direction are you heading, what color of car, can you see the license plate, how many people do you see in the cabin of the car, etc etc. I was able to speed up and change lanes to get the plate number. I then moved alongside the car, and could see only one person in the car, with no reason to believe that anything was amiss, except for some freaky flashing break lights.

I continued to keep pace with the car until it was turn off towards my office. The 911 operator had kept me on the phone as long as I could see the car, and she told me that there were officers on an intercept course to find out why there were these SOS flashes coming from this car.

And then, I made the move that I have wished I could take back since that morning. As I was getting ready to leave the call, the operator asked me if I would like to get a followup phone call from the responding officer as to the outcome of the flashing lights situation. I said that it was not necessary, and I have wondered ever since if there was any person in danger in that trunk.

 

[MJE2083]

Yeah you always wonder what happened after you hang up and don't get a call back.

A few months ago I was outside in my yard and I heard this terrible noise that I can only describe as a very angry animal growling, that was immediately followed by several people frantically screaming for several minutes. The sounds came from the direction of a little league baseball field that is over the hill from my house. My initial thought was that someone was being attacked by a dog. I called 911 to report it, but I never heard anything else about it.

I recently shared this story on another forum, I wasn't there but my Dad was involved. A couple guys were at a hunting camp the night before the rifle deer opener. Long story short...some drunk driver went flying off the road, side swiped 3 parked vehicles and hit a camping trailer that was parked in the driveway. The guys come out of the cabin to see what happened and see that this guy is clearly wasted and stinks like booze. He gets out of the car and starts running down the road. My Dad was already on the phone with 911 by this time and he explains everything that happened. The 911 operator says that they're not going to send a State Trooper out because they're too far away, and tells them just to get the guys insurance information!! Now my Dad is a former cop and after arguing back and forth with the operator for several mins he has to get the 911 supervisor on the phone and still has to convince them to send a cop out. The cops finally show up and they end up catching the guy at a convenience store 2 miles down the road.

 

[mthillrunner]

Years ago I was floating the Yellowstone with my wife. A severe storm came on abruptly, lightning, hail & pounding rain. We pulled off, flipped the raft over & hid out under it. While watching the lightning strike the hill near us multiple times we saw a fire start. The storm passed & fire took off. I called 911, the operator really couldn’t care. I said mam, this fire is really getting going. She wasn’t really having any of it. Luckily an hp trooper was driving by, saw it & stopped while I’m on the phone with the operator. He must have went above her head and before long several fire trucks could be seen. Fire burned several homes that day. Still blows my mind any time I think about it, she couldn’t have cared less!

 

[T Bone]

Almost 3 months ago my 16 year old daughter was coming home from work at 8:30 PM. She stopped to put gas in her car. She doesn't have a credit card so has to prepay. She walked right into an armed robbery in progress. The man with the gun had just finished making the female clerk expose herself to him, while at gunpoint. He cleaned out the cash register and took a carton of cigarettes, then my daughter walked in the door. He held her at gunpoint, she handed over her $20 and luckily he ran out of the store.

My daughter was remarkably clear headed and comforted the clerk and helped her call her manager who called 911.

Prior to police arriving at the scene, my daughter immediately got in her car and drove home. She came unglued in the driveway and went into shock. She called me from her car, sitting in the driveway.

We called 911, they asked us to go back to the scene of the crime.

Upon arriving at the scene, our Montrose CO Police Department announced that they had the suspect in custody. The police force here are top notch people.

I have wished so many times that it had been me in place of my daughter. That would have been a happy time in my life.

We have since been to court 2 times. Next week will hopefully be the last.

It could have turned out a dozen different ways, all for the worse. I thank God that my daughter was calm and collected that night.

 

[Buschy]

I am happy to hear your daughter is all right Tyson. Smart, strong young lady When thieves and criminals decide to hurt good people, they should be prepared for the consequences of their actions!

 

[hank4elk]

I made that call or radioed to SO/20 for assistance so many times I cannot remember over the 20 years I was Park Ranger/EMT.

I do remember my own personal call to 911 when I had a heart attack 3 years ago....it got dropped,twice.
Took a couple aspirins & headed to neighbors to check BP & get 911 call thru. BP going thru roof & still no 911 on landline,had Dennis drive me to hwy to meet EMT's & get chopper heading this way. Ambulance was waiting & they got me on gurney as I told them to get chopper & we headed the 2 miles to the helipad. I was on chopper 40 min later & on way to hospital. When morphine kicked in my BP hit 280/170....amazed my heart did not explode they said at hospital.
I was home 2 days later, sore as hell & NO DAMAGE to heart.

We do know we live in very remote area with poor ,if any, cell service & maybe even worse infrastucture serving county. Now I know I am pretty much on my own if anything in future does happen & it has changed my lifestyle.

 

[MTGomer]

Hank, you should look into the Garmin Inreach just to have for everyday living out there. I’ve never hit SOS on mine but I hear they are very quick to respond and get in touch with the local help

 

[Nameless Range]

Interesting stories!

I’ve called 911 twice- once for a terrible and fatal accident I witnessed and was first on scene, and another for a coworker who had a stroke while talking to me in my cubicle. I would be fine if I never had to call that number again.

I’ve responded to dozens of 911 calls as a volunteer fireman. From gas leaks, to car accidents/fires, to housefires, and more.

 

[hank4elk]

Hank, you should look into the Garmin Inreach just to have for everyday living lit there. I’ve never hit SOS on mine but I hear they are very quick to respond and get in touch with the local help

I am supporter of one of the heli-tac services available here now... & the SOS goes out to same local people we have now, with the same lack of services.
Besides,it's just Rio & me now....no worries.

 

[Sytes]

Hank, you should look into the Garmin Inreach just to have for everyday living lit there. I’ve never hit SOS on mine but I hear they are very quick to respond and get in touch with the local help

My route to and from work has a good stretch w/o any service. I've used my inreach a few occasions due to vehicle accidents. Mainly, I've messaged my wife to call for hwy patrol response when the person said they did not want medical attention though needed hwy patrol and tow truck. Once requested to message a father. Again, I messaged my wife to call the gal's father.

One occasion when it was evident there were possible significant injuries, I slid the lock over and used the emergency tab. I communicated the issue when the response came through. Remained on scene with a couple others until emergency personnel we're present and gave my statement.
That little unit is worth it's weight in... Human life.

Kansasdad, I would imagine there is a log on file if you were interested. Especially if it resulted in a significant event though I would imagine you would've been contacted by the DA if there was an abduction, etc. Fantastic observation! And a call to be made every day of the week.

 

[JTHOMP]

I was driving home after work on the interstate at 1-2am. It had been raining and the road wet. The nearest car ahead of me which was a decent ways away had a blow out and the car spun out. I had plenty of time to slow down and pull over the the shoulder. The car stopped broadside partly in the left land and partly on the left shoulder. My car is stopped across the interstate from them. Instead of trying to drive the car out of the road the couple get out of the car and begin to cross the interstate.
When the husband was crossing he was not moving as fast as you would think someone should move in that situation. As soon as he got to the shoulder a car came through almost hitting him. As his wife was crossing I remember seeing lights from a large vehicle and the sound of it hitting her. She was standing at my 3 o'clock. From the collision she flew about 15yds and landed at my 2 o'clock. Luckily out of the road and into the ditch. I approached her expecting to see a mangled dead body. It was dark, she was wearing dark clothes, and the grass was deep so it was hard to visually see what was wrong. I asked "Are you ok" and was relieved to hear a moan and knew she was at least alive. She was laying on her back, and I noticed her left leg at her mid thigh was folder underneath her body. Attached but severely broken.

Traffic is still moving and having to swerve to miss their car in the left lane. This is the dangerous part. Her husband was standing on the shoulder freaking out over what he just saw. I yell at him to get away from the road and he goes to his wife. My car was at risk of being hit by one of the swerving cars and I was scared if that happened it might roll my car and hit one or all of us. So I moved it up the road, and now had a chance to call 911. Luckily an 18 wheeler finally hit their car and that stopped traffic.

A few vehicles had stopped and nurse had checked the lady out until an ambulance arrived and they were able to take her. The lady that was hit had no visible external injuries, but no telling what kind of damage was done on the inside. I have no idea if she lived, or was able to fully recover, and have no idea who was driving the vehicle that hit her. No one that was there that assisted in the filling the police statements claimed it was them.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

These stories are spectacular!

I have a few serious personal ones but one that has always made me laugh. I was driving on my normal feeding run and came across a small doe that had obviously been hit recently. I was out in the open and didn't want someone to think I was doing anything illegal. So I googled the local police department and called because I didn't think it warranted a 911 call. I was almost speechless when I was connected to "911 whats your emergency." I nearly fell over trying to explain that it wasn't an emergency and I was just wanting permission to finish off a poor doe or have someone else do it. The operator explained because it was a Sunday, it was just protocol and not to worry. The funny part is that the doe I thought was paralyzed, rallied in the meantime and trotted off wobbly to a thicket.

 

[Art Vandeley]

Second day of pheasant season here, we had a gentlemen in the hunting party collapse with a seizure. Luckily, my friend and I saw him collapse. My buddy rolled him on his side and watched him to make sure he didn't choke on his own vomit, I ran to the top of a hill to get cell service and call 911. His eyes had rolled back in his head and he wasn't responsive in any way. He was foaming at the mouth and completely rigid. We were roughly 50 miles from the closest town with a hospital. Luckily we had another guy waiting on the county road to pick us up at the end of the walk. I gave them directions to his rig, and told them he would lead them into the field we were hunting. They were able to make it to us in about 30 minutes from the original call, which I felt was pretty good given the location and circumstances. Luckily, the guy came out of the seizure and was fine within a couple of hours.

It was a tense morning. It made me realize the importance of knowing road names and landmarks in that situation.

 

[JDH]

I've only had to call twice. Once a car was on fire in a parking lot near work. A got a recording that explained something in Spanish, then something about being hearing impaired, then finally it rang about 8 times and an actual person picked up. By the time it got through I could hear the fire trucks coming. Another time I was driving to work around 6 AM and started to speed up after rolling through this small speed trap when I caught up to an SUV. The lady was going a few mph slower than me but nothing major so as the road straightened out after a right hand turn I got ready to pass and noticed how she drifted across the center lane. She wasn't taking the turn as sharp as she should be but she was still turning. She ended up going off of the right hand side of the road and down an embankment into some trees, just missing a guardrail. I got down there and she was out of it so I ran back up to the road, dialed 911, proceeded to jog a hundred yards down the road to the nearest street sign to let them know where we were at. By that time someone else pulled up and the lady started to come around. The other passerby tried to communicate with her and she tried to put her SUV in reverse and back out. She was obviously still really out of it so we convinced her to shut the SUV off and wait. Emergency personnel finally showed up and took my statement. A few days later I got a call from her insurance company and they wouldn't tell me anything about her condition so I have no clue whether she was under the influence or had a medical issue.

 

[The Hedgehog]

July 3, 2003 I was driving along an isolated stretch of MT 287 just before sundown. There was a small truck facing my way in the barrow pit and a lot of debris in the middle of the road. The truck had rolled. The driver, a young woman (23 years old) was still buckled in but didn't have a pulse. I'll never forget that day, or her name, which was on a package addressed to her laying in the road. I went that way this fall on a hunting trip and took 2 pics with my phone.

 

[dcopas78]

I have had to call once. My brother and I were coming home from Cincinnati and were on the 275 outerloop bypass around the city traveling south. We saw dust, brake lights, a flash, and heard a horrendous crash. Turns out that a group of 3 young men had stolen a car and were traveling north on 275 at a high rate of speed when they lost control and crossed the median. My brother and I were in the middle lane with a semi slightly ahead and in the fast lane. A mini van was in the slow lane directly beside us. The car traveled between us and the semi, glanced off of the front right bumper of the van, went air borne, knocked down a wooden sound barrier, and knocked down about a 6-inch diameter tree on the other side of the barrier. All 3 were killed instantly. My brother and I didn't even realize what had happened because they were going so fast. We stopped and got out in time to see a huge plume of smoke erupt from behind the barrier and see the tree waver and fall. It was the hardest impact I've ever saw in my life. We started toward the wreck, but many people were already heading up to it so we decided it was probably not something we would want to see. I called 911 and let them know what happened, but the cops were already coming to the scene so they said they were aware of it. The pictures of the car weren't recognizable as a car. It actually cracked the engine in two pieces and you could see the cylinders and pistons. I can't imagine the force that would take. The cops estimated they were going over 140 when they crossed in front of us. I still thank God we weren't going just a little faster that day. There is no way I or my brother would be here now.

 

[Z Barebow]

I work in a 911 dispatch center. (I oversee some of our technology, not good enough to dispatch! LOL!) Our dispatchers are pros! I get to witness how they handle these types of calls. I couldn't do it.

 

[kansasdad]

I had to call 911 again Thursday night. I suppose a car turned left out of a parking lot (right turn only, as it is a divided two-lane road) and thus was heading east in west-bound lanes. As it was dusk, and the road bends, I believe neither driver had very much warning. I saw sparks fly and watched a car parts fireworks show of metal and plastic arcing up and away from the mangled cars. At first I thought there may have been enough momentum for the wayward traveling car to jump the medium and end up in my lane, so I applied vigorous brakes, and was glad that the car following me was alert enough to not rear end me.

There were at least ten other vehicles on the roadway that were coming up on the wreck site, or going to pass by heading eastbound, but I pulled out my cell phone to make the call. There is a famous case where an prolonged assault was occurring in a crowded housing area, in the earshot of multiple people, that ended in the death of a woman. Even with all the witnesses, no one called the police. The witnesses all assumed that someone else would make to call to the police, yet no one at all called.

Once again, Verizon sent notification to Mrs kansasdad that I had called 911. She was waiting for me in the kitchen as I walked into the house and quizzically inquired "what happened now??"

 

[Guy]

I work in a 911 dispatch center. (I oversee some of our technology, not good enough to dispatch! LOL!) Our dispatchers are pros! I get to witness how they handle these types of calls. I couldn't do it.

Retired cop here, and I agree, good dispatchers are awesome!

I don't remember calling 911 very often myself, but I sure did respond to a bunch of those calls over the years. Some were pretty bad.

Did use 911 a couple of months ago when a car ahead of me on a mountain pass, hit some rocks and went off the road. Thankfully nobody was injured.

Guy

 

[LuketheDog]

My wife and I witnessed a guy on a Harley passing recklessly on a mountain highway outside Denver a couple years ago. He was maybe 1/4 mile away, coming at us, and passing cars on the shoulder at about 75-80mph. I actually had time to tell my wife "watch, this guy coming at us is going to crash." Sure enough he slipped his rear tire off the pavement, then overcorrected and high-sided onto the concrete and rag-dolled into the median right as we passed him. Since my wife is a doctor she wanted to check him out, so I called 911 and pulled the truck across the road to divert traffic around the wreck. The 911 dispatcher was awesome, I gave her the location and while my wife checked the unconscious guy out I relayed his condition to the dispatcher. The troopers and paramedics were there inside 5 minutes, but during that time the biker, who had a huge gash in the back of his head (no helmet while riding) and wicked road rash on his bare arms and hands, decided to wake up and get combative because we wouldn't let him get up to leave the scene. We didn't know if he had any internal or spinal injuries so myself and about 5 other guys who had pulled over held him down until the troopers got there. He was big and really drunk, it was a pretty intense experience!