Calling 911---tell us your stories

[kansasdad]

(bumping this thread)

Early Monday morning I received a phone call from my hygienist that there was a strange car in the middle of the parking area, but not in a parking spot. The passenger window was rolled down, and something was laying on the ground next to the car. Getting to the office I decided that I didn't need to call 911, but instead tried to call the local patrol office. It was 8:02 but the voicemail at the listed number directed me to call 911 as their office didn't open until 8 am. I did another search of the Wichita police website and found another phone number, finally talking with a human being. After talking with this person, they determined that I needed to speak with 911 about the car and transferred me to the call center.

I had taken photos of the car, which made it easy to report the Colorado fleet license plate. I also took down the VIN number, which in the end didn't match the Hertz rental car that would be reported stolen an hour after we called it in.

A phone call to Hertz alerted them to the presence of their car in our parking area. Eventually a police suburban arrived, and then the tow truck loaded up the car and trailered it away.

 

[kansasdad]

Once again, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to call 911. As I was driving home tonight, it was still 94 degrees, with a triple digit high a few hours earlier. As I came to my neighborhood street corner, I looked over and saw what appeared to be an older man laying halfway on the sidewalks halfway in the grass, face up with no movement.

There is no way for me to know how long this guy had been laying there, or why he was there. I also have no idea about how many other cars may have seen and not called, or perhaps not realized that he was there. I just know that I have committed to call 911 if there is a possibility that folks need assistance.

The 911 operator called me back about ten minutes later asking for a clarification on his location. That makes me wonder if he was gone by the time the sheriff‘s deputy came to investigate, or the 911 operator didn’t understand my crystal clear location description.


(As an update, the “diamond” ring of post #36 from this thread was released from the Salina Police lost and found. My dreams of taking Mrs kansasdad on a nice cruise with the sale of the ring were dashed when the jeweler pronounced the stones in the ring to be a very nice quality moissanite (manmade diamond substitute) worth enough for several dinners out instead.

 

[Salmonchaser]

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.

I spent 20 years on the job. They are pros and saved my life more than once.

 

[NMGuy]

When we lived in ABQ I had to call 911 one evening. I was sitting in the apartment when I heard two groups of guys yelling in the courtyard followed by the thunder of footsteps as one group ran up the stairs to confront the other group. They ran up to the floor above mine and I hear all hell break loose. I look out the window and see a guy holding his torso covered in blood while others were yelling that they were going to get their guns.

I called 911 and reported the incident. When I woke up the next morning to go to work it was still an active crime scene. The guy I saw survived, but his brother was also stabbed and bled out across the courtyard before help could arrive.

 

[Salmonchaser]

One dark and stormy night I was dispatched to a man down in the road. Code three to the scene I find a body face down in the road. A couple of women had stopped short of running over him but they were very distraught. As I hustle up to the victim I realize it's a managuin. I also hear a couple of boys snickering in the bushes. I cancel the aid car and other units, advise what I had found and watch the boys run to a near by house. Without thinking I picked up the manaquin, lost his head in the process, and punted the head into the ditch. I'll never forget the screams from those women!

 

[Ben Nicholson]

Several years ago my buddy and I had just gotten to our turkey hunting spot and were getting out gear out of our trucks when we heard tires squealing on the highway. I looked up to see headlights rolling down the road and into a ravine. I was dialing 911 as I was running to the car. The operator answered about the same time I got to the vehicle. I was pretty certain there was going to be a dead body in the car, but thankfully the young woman was climbing out when I got there. I told the 911 operator that the driver appeared to be fine. The operator kept asking if I could smell any alcohol on the driver (which I couldn’t). The sheriff deputy showed up a few minutes later so my buddy and I left to go hunting (we tagged out). Thankfully that’s the only time I’ve had to call 911.

 

[Stocker]

We had a PDS tornado watch issued on a spring day a few years ago, the local weather guessers said if we were to be under one of these thunderheads that went up be prepared for a possible tornado to develop quickly. I ran into my little town to get some feed, it was bright and sunny out. By the time I left 10 minutes later it was pitch black and hailing. I get to a top of a hill and look in my rear view mirror and see a tornado already on the ground. I call the county 911 to tell them to get the siren in town going. Lady on the other end says “sir are you a trained storm spotter?” I said “I don’t need training to see that this is a F%*+^!# tornado.”

She hung up on me right as it hit my grandpas buddy’s house. I watched it for 15 minutes and in true small town form the siren started blaring as it had finished roping out and was all but gone. My grandpas friend who was in his upper 70’s watched the tornado from his shop then made a mad dash for his house at the last second. He didn’t make it, ended up holding onto a tee and getting beat up pretty good. He probably wouldn’t have survived if he made it to the house since it got leveled about the time he would’ve got to the door. A buddy and I were the first ones there and he tells us the story kind of laughing. Crazy old kook.

Don’t need to be “trained” to know what this is. But I know why they need to ask. Lots of yahoos see a weird cloud and call tornados in. Plus I80 clips the NW corner of the county and a couple deputies I know have story’s of wild calls from people from the coasts.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Six miles in, two thousand feet above the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness trailhead at the river, the rock slipped from under my foot and the heavy backpack drove my knee into the steep rocky slope severing my patellar tendon.


My wife wrapped the injury with what the EMT's later said was the best backcountry splint they had seen. Climbing to the ridge above, cell service was thankfully available and she called 911. The dispatcher quickly linked her to the sheriff office and she explained that she had my phone with ONX. The deputy said "Open this function, press this button and read the numbers." She did and he exclaimed, "We have coordinates! Help is on the way."
It seemed like less than an hour and the sleek Bell 429, four-bladed, twin engine, 175 mph, hoist-capable helicopter plucked us off the rugged mountain and flew to a waiting ambulance. I will be eternally grateful to Lewis & Clark County 911 dispatch, sheriff office, and Two Bear Air of the Flathead.

 

[LuketheDog]

Six miles in, two thousand feet above the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness trailhead at the river, the rock slipped from under my foot and the heavy backpack drove my knee into the steep rocky slope severing my patellar tendon.
View attachment 229656

My wife wrapped the injury with what the EMT's later said was the best backcountry splint they had seen. Climbing to the ridge above, cell service was thankfully available and she called 911. The dispatcher quickly linked her to the sheriff office and she explained that she had my phone with ONX. The deputy said "Open this function, press this button and read the numbers." She did and he exclaimed, "We have coordinates! Help is on the way."
It seemed like less than an hour and the sleek Bell 429, four-bladed, twin engine, 175 mph, hoist-capable helicopter plucked us off the rugged mountain and flew to a waiting ambulance. I will be eternally grateful to Lewis & Clark County 911 dispatch, sheriff office, and Two Bear Air of the Flathead.

My buddy slipped on some ice and tore his patellar tendon a few years ago, hunting solo with a big winter blizzard coming in. He tried to stand up and quickly realized limping out was not going to be an option, as he was 3 miles from his truck in the wilderness in heavy timber, so he ended up using his SOS function on his brand new InReach. They told him to stay put (no problem!) and they'd be there in 4 hours or so, he crawled around and gathered sticks for a fire and was able to put up his 1-man tent for when the snow started falling. SAR finally got to him 8 hours later in the dark after getting delayed over and over again trying to find a path to him up the mountain through 12+" of fresh snow. He said they were a great group of people and had been in contact with him throughout the evening on on his InReach, and when they got there they turned his small fire into a huge bonfire to warm up and roast Spam on sticks for a calorie boost. Then they splinted him up and spent the rest of the night carrying him off the mountain and down to their atvs.

 

[Islander]

Man Chasing Young Girl in the Woods - My Gun May Have Saved Her From Bad Things. Told 911 All About It.

I was riding my dirt bike in the national forest. Came to a short (100 yard) transition between trials on a fire road. At the entrance to the trail was an older man in his car with the door hanging open. I asked him "Are you okay?". He stared at me. I asked him again, and he shouted "Are YOU okay?". "Fine," I thought. Back into the woods.

60 yards up the trail a girl (about aged 20) popped out of the woods in front of me. I immediately stopped and checked my back to make sure this wasn't some sort of crazy ambush scheme to steal dirt bikes. Big guy was still sitting in his car with the door open. I turned back to the girl and saw a cellphone in her hand and a bottle of water. Her face was a picture of terror and her arms were scratched up from crashing through brush, some of which was still stuck to her. She handed me the phone and said pretty loudly "I think he is sick!" It seemed like she specifically said it so the man could hear her. I leaned into her and asked what was really happening, and she said he was chasing her. I told her to move up the trail a ways and get away from me, in case this guy tried anything.

911 was already on the phone, so I started trying to explain where we were and also what had happened to the best of my knowledge. Dude got out of the car and started walking toward me. I told him I was armed and well-trained and to please not approach me. He looked surprised, then basically gave up. I told him he was free to go but that he wasn't going to approach me or the girl. Then I asked him if he would please raise his shirt and spin around for me. He did without any issue. As this was happening I had moved 45 degrees to the side and behind a large tree for cover. I told him the police were coming and that I already had his license plate number. He could do what he wanted. I wanted 911 to record that I wasn't holding this guy against his will. I never pulled my pistol from the vest I was wearing. He got in his car, shut the door, and cranked the music.

It took a lot of work to explain where I was, but in about 45 minutes a patrol car showed up and parked about 200 yards down the road. I had taken off my chest armor and shirt and was only wearing my riding pants and boots. I wanted them to see that I was unarmed and stood there with hands over my head, palms out. It took them about 20 minutes to get out of their car. I guess they were waiting for backup, but finally they got out. One officer had an M4 and the other his pistol. They were very nice and very professional as they slowly walked toward me and accessed the scene. They shouted to the big guy and told him to stay in his car from a distance. M4 guy covered me while the other officer approached and checked me for weapons. He asked where my pistol was, and I pointed to my vest piled up with my other clothing about 20 yards away. They never asked me for my concealed card or even my name, but I had already given all my information to the 911 operator.

About this time several Sheriff and Forest Service SUVs arrived, along with a chopper and few State Troopers. The first officers on the scene then pulled the guy out of the car and the Sheriff took the girl down the road to another cruiser. They were not interested in me at that point, and I climbed on my bike and finished the ride without saying another word to anyone. They never called me to testify.

I have no idea what happened in the case or what the real situation was. But I know how terrified that girl looked and how relieved she was when she knew she was safe.

 

[Randi]

A little different story about "911" I was attacked by two men when in college and decided that it would never happen again. So I took two different self defense classes, bought pepper spray, practiced with it and started carrying a handgun. Fast forward--myself and two other girls were leaving a club in Amarillo and was approached by three men in a very aggressive and crude manner. I had the spray in one hand and my handgun in the other hand. One of the men said, if you shoot us you will go to jail and i said possibly but you will never know whether I do or not. They left and approx a week later, my two friends brought me a gift. It was a ball cap that said "our 911 operator"

A funny story about my cousin and 911. She was possibly 6 or 7 and called 911 and told them that her dog was sick and she wanted an ambulance to come immediately.

A big "thank you" to 911 operators AND the officers who respond

 

[Irrelevant]

I called it three time. First one, I was the first person on the scene of a truck and trailer wreck on the freeway, but thankfully everyone was okay, though the driver had to disappear into the brush to change his undies.

Second time was the scariest moment of my life. I got a call from my wife, asking if I had my son (6). I was at work, and certainly did not, she said the school called her and asked if we had him because they didn't (he was supposed to be in aftercare at the school - last day before the covid shutdown). I couldn't hardly contain myself for that call. Thankfully in under 15 minutes 7 deputies were canvasing our small town and our neighborhood and eventually found him quite safe and oblivious to anyone looking for him. I lot of system failures occurred that day...

Third one was just last week. The house behind our office has a history of shady drug related issues. I watched as a young gal staggered through our parking lot, through the gate, and immediately passed out. The dog came over and was licking her face and she was non-responsive. I called and the paramedics came and administered something, and she was awake again, then handcuffed by the police. Glad she was okay, but she was also back in less that 48 hrs.

 

[Irrelevant]

A little different story about "911" I was attacked by two men when in college and decided that it would never happen again.

I can't imagine how terrible that must have been.

 

[jpcoll01]

Picture this...a beautiful Eastern KY fall evening...5 college buddies at a house drinking a few beers (all underage) one thinks it would be hilarious to call 911 and hang up...fast forward 10 minutes 3 cruisers in the front yard with light and sirens going. They made me wake my girlfriend up and have her come out to ensure she was fine and hadn't been the one who called. Otherwise they were super cool given the situation.

 

[Beignet]

I've got one that was aggravating at the time, but all turned out fine and is pretty humorous in retrospect.

Went to grad school in DC. Spent one of the summers putting old skills to use working in a woodshop just over the Maryland side of the DC border working on a large contract doing to make new windows to their original spec for one of the big government buildings in DC (but out of sapele instead of mahogany).

A few of us were putting in OT one evening, me alone inside milling profiles, and some of the non-woodworking employees outside dismantling old windows for salvage. I heard a loud crash and a scream. One of the fellas had somehow managed to give himself one of the deepest, nastiest lacerations on his leg that I'd ever seen. I seriously thought he might bleed out. A couple other guys started wrapping his leg while I called 911.

The operator answered "DC 911." I explained what was going on and that we were actually about 5 blocks into Maryland, technically in Hyattsville. She said that DC 911 couldn't respond to that and that I needed to call responders in Maryland. My response was, "Then how do I call 911 in Maryland?" She said "Dial 911!" Me: "I did dial 911, damn it!!!"

I realized that she wasn't going to be any help and hung up then and there. This was still in the flip phone/blackberry days, so we couldn't just punch "hospital" into a mapping application. Fortunately, someone vaguely knew where the nearest hospital was and we got the guy to the ER ourselves after getting him wrapped in shop rags. Blood was all over the place in the vehicle we drove, but everyone remained pretty calm and we got the guy there and stitched up. Still have no idea why she couldn't or wouldn't patch me through to Maryland 911.

 

[gouch]

I've called twice. Once for a literal dumpster fire and the other for a grass fire. both times someone had already reported the fire. When I was stationed in Germany, I was walking on a forest road along a small river when something on in the water on the other side caught my eye. You couldn't see it well enough to positively identify it but somehow, I knew instantly that it was a dead body. I walked back to the bridge then up the bank and sure enough there was a dead guy. By the tracks on the bank it looked like dogs had tried to pull him out of the water by his hair but only succeeded in pulling his hair out. I walked to the MP station and told them what I had found. If you want to see a bunch of cops jump and scramble just walk into their headquarters and tell them that you found a dead guy. I took the cops to the site but decided to leave when they started talking about how it looked like he had been in the water a long time and would probably pull apart if they tied to drag him out. They eventually decided to let the German police handle it. It turned out the guy had been missing for 8 days.

 

[Salmonchaser]

A little different story about "911" I was attacked by two men when in college and decided that it would never happen again. So I took two different self defense classes, bought pepper spray, practiced with it and started carrying a handgun. Fast forward--myself and two other girls were leaving a club in Amarillo and was approached by three men in a very aggressive and crude manner. I had the spray in one hand and my handgun in the other hand. One of the men said, if you shoot us you will go to jail and i said possibly but you will never know whether I do or not. They left and approx a week later, my two friends brought me a gift. It was a ball cap that said "our 911 operator"

A funny story about my cousin and 911. She was possibly 6 or 7 and called 911 and told them that her dog was sick and she wanted an ambulance to come immediately.

A big "thank you" to 911 operators AND the officers who respond

Good girl, I love survivors.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Years ago on the way back into town from duck hunting with my friend’s cousin (16) Saturday AM the car in front of us abruptly turned left and rammed into a concrete wall. We are surprised, and trying to make sense of the scene when the car backs up, fortunately not into our front bumper, and continues down the road leaving a pile of broken plastic. They turn into the parking lot of county government offices, which were closed. At this point we parked at the far other end of the lot and call 9-1-1. A lady climbs out of the car and starts yanking on the locked door of the closed government office, then after a while heads back to her car. By her appearance she seemed very intoxicated, redneck-type person. I thought about barricading her car with mine in the parking space to prevent her from causing further harm, but ultimately decided against it due to having a minor in my car. The lady pulled back into traffic and crashed about 1/2 mile down the road. Fortunately, no bystanders were injured.

 

[Scott85]

The only notable time I’ve called was driving to work at 0400 a couple years ago. It was on a divided 4 lane highway, as I was driving along a car came driving down on my side the wrong way. The only regret I had was not turning around and following on the correct side of the road.

 

[GrantK]

I have had occasion to call a couple of times, fortunately never for anything serious, the first time was pretty funny...

I had just moved in with my girlfriend and was getting my house ready to rent, the garage was serving as my outdoor gear storage closet while we shuffled stuff around and cleaned up... the cleaners had wrapped up and I noticed that they appeared to have left a joint in the closet, odd but whatever, the house was clean so I just picked it up and threw it out.

A couple of nights later I stopped by on my way home from work to grab my mountain bike, I used the garage door opener and came in the garage door, grabbed the bike and was headed out when the door between the garage and house flew open, then shut very softly...realizing someone was in the house I decided it would take too long to grab the Glock out of my truck, grabbed a softball bat from the gear stash, dialed 911, and carefully opened the door... I was immediately hit... by the cloud of weed smoke that was down to my knees... as I was coughing my way through the kitchen I saw someone going over the back fence into the neighbor's yard, as I was trying to decide if it was worth trying to catch them I looked at the island and realized there was no need,they had left their wallet, keys, and cell phone on the counter, the dispatcher was pretty concerned when I went from angry and coughing to laughing so hard I could barely talk as I checked that indeed, they had left their ID in my house, and it took a minute to get through to dispatch why I had the name of the person who had broke in and wasn't all that concerned with them getting away...

After a quick check to make sure nobody was left in the house I headed outside to wait for the police and clear my head from the intense contact high I had acquired, I noticed a couple of teenagers who definitely didn't fit into the neighborhood appeared to be having a heated discussion about a block away, they finally seemed to decide on a course of action and very hesitantly walked over to me, neither one could look me in the eye as they tried to start a conversation" Hey man, uhhh, so, uh, yeah, so we screwed up, uhh, we accidentally might have left something in the house, we didn't know anybody owned it, can you let us in to look for it?" I told them definitely not, you can hang out and wait for the cops or you can run, but that isn't going to go very far when "something" you need to look for is your driver's license and keys... the expression on their faces still makes me laugh years later...

the evening continued to go badly for them when the officer who showed up a minute later was one of my brother's best friends, rolling out of the cruiser giving me a fist bump and a "what's up bro, are these the morons?" followed by about half the local cops swinging by to see who had managed to leave their ID at the scene of a break-in... then the final humiliation for a teenage perp, being handed over to their mothers...

It turned out that the cleaner's kid had stolen the combo for the lock from his mom and gave it to his friends who apparently were too lazy to drive 5 minutes out of town to the traditional smoking spot...

In all honesty, it could have gone badly for me or them at a bunch of points, to this day I'm glad I didn't grab a gun, and I'm hopeful that getting caught being idiots maybe turned them around from the path they were on, regardless it still makes me laugh occasionally and think twice when I say "how dumb could you be?"