Boy's 911 Call Ignored as Mom Dies

After a 5-year-old boys mother collapses, his 911 call was dismissed by the operator. Police using the recordings of the call say that the operator told the boy to quit playing on the phone and to put his mother on the door, before she had the police come get him in trouble.



I really don't know what to say about this one. It's quite possible that the 911 operator's actions resulted in the death of this women and the loss of a 5-year-olds mother. She remains on the job, which I think is completely wrong. I'm sure there are many people that wouldn't want to have their lifes in her hands after this.

[edit on 9-4-2006 by DarkHelmet]

Call centers... the cheaper the better


Life's so damn cheap nowadays

Yep, I read about this.

Man...

*shakes head*

I haven't read a transcript of what the child said nor heard a recording of the call. The article that I read said that a good part of what the child said was unintelligible, but it didn't say whether that was because the child was holding the phone away from his mouth or because of background noise, etc.

The 911 operator is still on the job until the investigation has been completed.

I have a scanner in my home that picks up the police and fire freqs, and I hear quite often on there that dispatch sends an officer to people's homes because of 911 hangups, and when the operator calls back to try to get the party on the line the phone just rings and rings. I then hear the police call back to the 911 center to report what he/she found at the home. Some are adults that are fighting, one dials 911 and then hangs up, using it as a threat against the other, but several are also kids that are playing around.

I feel sorry for the family, but am waiting to see if the operator was negligent or not.

JDub

My wife was a 911 dispatcher for about 6 years.
She loved it, helping people. But it was very stressful for her.

Yes, the pranks do happen..and so do the hangups, where the caller has seconds thoughts.
We're a much smaller city here, and the policy was always, ALWAYS, respond
to the call. Issue a warning, and/or fine, if it is determined to be a prank.

But things have happened since then. Cell phones. with emergency numbers
autoprogrammed, this causes lots of accidental calls. I hear PSA's regarding that fact, "lock your keypad".
There is a lot more NOISE, in those call centers now.

Here, you don't even have to dial 911, just 9, and you'll be routed to a call center. Maybe that needs to be revisited. But then again, if you are severely injured, "9" may be all you can dial.



[edit on 9-4-2006 by spacedoubt]

I just watched a news report on this, and they are now saying that the mother asked the child to call 911 when she began feeling faint...

The autopsy indicates that had they responded immediately after the first call, she may very well have lived.

This is so tragic.

There is a lawyer who is going to file a $1 million suit for the child. I think the child deserves every penny of it too.

Originally posted by DarkHelmet
There is a lawyer who is going to file a $1 million suit for the child. I think the child deserves every penny of it too.

Just 1 million? When a fat woman can sue McDonald's because she spilled hot coffee on herself and wins (gee the coffee is SUPPOSSED to be hot). This is so much more of a travisty that I think 1 million isn't enough....and I'm sure that the boy would rather have his mother than ALL the money in the world.

Originally posted by Long Lance
Call centers... the cheaper the better


Life's so damn cheap nowadays

911 calls dont go to "call centers", they go to either the city police or county sheriff's dept communications room. I know this for a fact because I work for a sheriff's dept. The procedure here is EVERY call gets a car sent to it, hang ups, nobody on the other end, doenst matter, they all get a car sent to the address on the screen if it is a land line. The problem arises with cell phones, while a cell phone may TRANSMIT their location on a 911 call, if the county/city has not been mapped out via gps then there is no way to know where they are unless the caller can speak. Many cities have recently had their areas mapped out via gps overlays that can pinpoint the location of a 911 call from a cell phone to within 10 feet. This ONLY HAPPENS with 911 calls. You can set the new cell phones to transmit location ONLY for 911 calls which disables the feature where you can track it 24/7.