The work of emergency dispatchers is incredibly challenging and sensitive. It’s because of their dedication, speed, sound judgment, and perseverance that lives are saved. But this job takes a toll. It is extremely stressful. Often, in the most unexpected ways.
Heroic 911 operators opened up about the strangest and scariest calls they’ve ever gotten in a couple of brutally honest online threads. There, they spilled everything, including the emotional impact that these bizarre emergencies have. You’ll find their tales below. Warning: some of these stories are very disturbing.
#21
It is not me: My friend had to take care of a couple doing their thing in a tree. They somehow got stuck and had to call for help getting down. When he and his team arrived it he saw his cousin, ofcourse all naked.
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28points
#22
Posted this before, but the first call I took was from a blind elderly male. He called because he had found his son on the floor of a bedroom. He was not responding so I had him tilt his head back and listen for a breath...nothing. He said he was warm and he had talked with him less than twenty minutes prior so I guided him through CPR. Compressions only because of the circumstances. He lived in a rural part of our county and we were low on rigs so we did this for about twelve minutes before help arrived on scene. EMS goes inside and immediately ask for PD. This isn't unusual, sometimes loved ones can't or don't want to believe that it's too late so we go through the motions until a trained eye is there. PD gets there and asks for a detective. This is also not unusual for younger deaths. Two hours later and still there it peaks my curiosity. I called the first officer that arrived and found out that the poor man had been doing CPR on his now mostly headless son. He had been taking a nap and his son committed s*****e with a shotgun. It woke him up but not quick enough for it to register as a gunshot. When I had asked him to tilt his head back he did so by using his chin which was still there. I think it worked out for the best because he had support there when he learned the truth and it didn't make my job any tougher but it definitely made for an usual start to my dispatch career.
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27points
#23
My mom was a dispatcher for 20+ years. The eeriest call she ever told me about was one that started off with no voice, only breathing. She kept asking yes or no questions, working out a system to guess what was going on. Eventually he could talk a little bit and said the person who hurt him was still there, so the officers went in guns drawn. He'd said the person was there but hadn't specified that they were passed away.
Turns out the guy couldn't talk because his throat was sliced open. Which he had done to himself. To make it look like his wife, whom he took the life of, had attacked him first.
Turns out the guy couldn't talk because his throat was sliced open. Which he had done to himself. To make it look like his wife, whom he took the life of, had attacked him first.
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23points
#24
Got a call a few years ago, lady's house was on fire, and her daughter was stuck in a back room. The flames were too much and too high, and she couldn't get through them to get to the girl. So I got to sit on the phone and listen to A) a little girl burn to death and B) the mom scream and cry as she watched. It was 5 years ago and the sounds still haunts me.
Edit: I thought of a second one. Had a guy who called in reporting his son was unconscious and not breathing. He was as calm as could be about it, too. Said he left the room for just a second and when he came back he found him this way. But he wasn't panicked, wasn't worried, just talking like he was telling me about his day. Kept trying to get him to start CPR, and he treated it like a chore. Turns out, the kid started crying and the dad got frustrated and beat him to death. Kid was 2.
Edit: I thought of a second one. Had a guy who called in reporting his son was unconscious and not breathing. He was as calm as could be about it, too. Said he left the room for just a second and when he came back he found him this way. But he wasn't panicked, wasn't worried, just talking like he was telling me about his day. Kept trying to get him to start CPR, and he treated it like a chore. Turns out, the kid started crying and the dad got frustrated and beat him to death. Kid was 2.
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23points
#25
Oooh! I can participate! Hours later, but have a novella!
So "strange", "serious", and actual "emergency" don't often overlap, but I may have a few that work.
1) Caller says her crazy roommate is losing her s**t, has a knife, and is screaming and trying to break stuff in the house. Caller is locked in her bedroom with a surprisingly calm attitude, noting that roommate is nuts and this isn't that unusual. Responders are pretty far out, so I stay on the phone. Suddenly, I hear loud banging, sounds of a verbal, tussling. I try to get my caller's attention again, while noting what I can overhear in the call notes. Caller gets back on the line and says the roommate had cut up her own arms/hands, busted in my caller's bedroom door, and smeared blood all over the caller. Then the roommate left to room to also call 911 so she could claim my caller had intentionally attacked her.
2) I was still training on phones. Call was already in for a check on welfare of an older woman who lived with her adult sons. The original caller said she hadn't heard from the mother and the sons were known to be aggressive and even violent. I answer a call from the landline phone at the target address and it's the mother, wondering where officers are because her sons are physically fighting. I remember being confused that she knew they were coming and wasn't the original caller. She wasn't forthcoming with information, gave very short answers to direct questions. When she asked if she could get off the phone, I asked her to just set the phone down with the line open and she obliged. After a bit, I hear the mother and a male voice arguing in the background, and mention of "blood". More arguing, then a male voice picks up the phone and says "I just killed my brother in self defense". He was surprisingly compliant and calmly told me what happened, with what weapon, where the weapon was now, his name, date of birth, etc. Still somewhat surprised I wasn't called into court for that one.
3) It's right at shift change and the incoming rotation is notorious for callouts and trudging in at the top of the hour. I'm standing up, just waiting for enough people to log in so I can leave. 911 is ringing, they have a few showing available, but not actually answering, so I sigh and pick up.
The male caller says that his roof has collapsed and, that he has acid burns, and that it is all over the floor. My agency uses specific questioning protocols for EMS and fire calls, so I launch into the program. We are not allowed to deviate from questioning until we get aaaaalllll the way through, with a few very specific exceptions. The caller is agitated and uncooperative, keeps asking what's taking them so long, as many do - there's often an apparent misconception that no one starts moving until all our questions are answered, which is not the case. His responses to the questions elicit a full HAZMAT response from fire and eventually prompts me to also send the call to EMS and law enforcement. I had already sent the call to LEO early on because of the caller's evasiveness and just a general vibe. Protocol instructions have me tell the caller to leave his house, but he is refusing. He keeps saying the responders have to come to him. Meanwhile, all three agencies (law, fire, EMS) are all in the area, but they parked down the road because the guy says this place is structurally unsound and there are dangerous chemicals everywhere - they aren't sending their people into that environment to create more victims I'd they can help it. The Sgt has me connect the caller to his cell phone to try and convince the guy to come out, but the caller is still belligerent, insisting they come to them, and repeatedly hangs up on the officer. Finally, an officer basically says "f**k it" and approaches the guy's house. I'm finally off the phone, 20 minutes after I should have been done, and take my tired a*s home.
When I look at the call the next day, the short of it is that the dude was tripping balls. The caller was obviously agitated and pacing in front of the home when the officer walked up. When he saw the officer, the caller immediately approached him, trying to remove his clothing to show the officer the non-existent "acid burns". The house was intact and had no structural damage. And that's why answering 911 2 minutes before you get to leave is [🎶the woooooOoooorssstttttt 🎶](http://iruntheinternet.com/lulzdump/images/gifs/parks-and-recreation-Jean-Ralphio-the-worst-worst-woooorst-1372637673p.gif?id=)
More lighthearted//
4) Not my story, but a coworker - she had a male caller saying he was having s******l thoughts and wanted to jump into traffic. While coworker is trying to get more information from him as responders are on the way, he gets frustrated with her, stating that she's distracting him and keeps making him miss the passing cars.
5) We had almost daily occurrences of callers reporting a man standing naked on the side of the road, mooning passing cars around 5am near the county line. It was so far away from our deputies' normal down time spots, and consistently around shift change, so they consistently were unable to locate the man by the time someone got to the area. Dispatch nicknamed him the Brown-eyed Bandit.
6) Female caller very concerned about something suspicious, mentioning a body in large trunk or suitcase and an abandoned house, but was unable to clarify details and kept changing the story when i asked questions in attempt to get a better idea of wtf she was talking about. She was getting increasingly agitated as I tried to refocus her attention on statements she already made and asked clarifying questions. Finally, she gets so fed up with me asking questions that she says "can I talk to someone else, someone other than you? Is Detective Stabler there?"
I'm fairly new at the time, and we work in a facility separate from the agencies we work with, so I don't know most of the officers by name. I give it serious thought for a second, thinking this may be someone on a different rotation. Then it hits me: "Are you talking about Detective Stabler from Law and Order??" *internally: ohhhhhhhhhh, this b***h is crazy.*
7) I don't remember the context, but I was asking for descriptive information on a caller's girlfriend of about a month.
Me: what's her date of birth?
Caller: I don't know, but I know she's a scorpio
If you read all this, imaginary cookies for you! Please forgive errors, this kept me occupied for my last hour or so at work on my phone.
So "strange", "serious", and actual "emergency" don't often overlap, but I may have a few that work.
1) Caller says her crazy roommate is losing her s**t, has a knife, and is screaming and trying to break stuff in the house. Caller is locked in her bedroom with a surprisingly calm attitude, noting that roommate is nuts and this isn't that unusual. Responders are pretty far out, so I stay on the phone. Suddenly, I hear loud banging, sounds of a verbal, tussling. I try to get my caller's attention again, while noting what I can overhear in the call notes. Caller gets back on the line and says the roommate had cut up her own arms/hands, busted in my caller's bedroom door, and smeared blood all over the caller. Then the roommate left to room to also call 911 so she could claim my caller had intentionally attacked her.
2) I was still training on phones. Call was already in for a check on welfare of an older woman who lived with her adult sons. The original caller said she hadn't heard from the mother and the sons were known to be aggressive and even violent. I answer a call from the landline phone at the target address and it's the mother, wondering where officers are because her sons are physically fighting. I remember being confused that she knew they were coming and wasn't the original caller. She wasn't forthcoming with information, gave very short answers to direct questions. When she asked if she could get off the phone, I asked her to just set the phone down with the line open and she obliged. After a bit, I hear the mother and a male voice arguing in the background, and mention of "blood". More arguing, then a male voice picks up the phone and says "I just killed my brother in self defense". He was surprisingly compliant and calmly told me what happened, with what weapon, where the weapon was now, his name, date of birth, etc. Still somewhat surprised I wasn't called into court for that one.
3) It's right at shift change and the incoming rotation is notorious for callouts and trudging in at the top of the hour. I'm standing up, just waiting for enough people to log in so I can leave. 911 is ringing, they have a few showing available, but not actually answering, so I sigh and pick up.
The male caller says that his roof has collapsed and, that he has acid burns, and that it is all over the floor. My agency uses specific questioning protocols for EMS and fire calls, so I launch into the program. We are not allowed to deviate from questioning until we get aaaaalllll the way through, with a few very specific exceptions. The caller is agitated and uncooperative, keeps asking what's taking them so long, as many do - there's often an apparent misconception that no one starts moving until all our questions are answered, which is not the case. His responses to the questions elicit a full HAZMAT response from fire and eventually prompts me to also send the call to EMS and law enforcement. I had already sent the call to LEO early on because of the caller's evasiveness and just a general vibe. Protocol instructions have me tell the caller to leave his house, but he is refusing. He keeps saying the responders have to come to him. Meanwhile, all three agencies (law, fire, EMS) are all in the area, but they parked down the road because the guy says this place is structurally unsound and there are dangerous chemicals everywhere - they aren't sending their people into that environment to create more victims I'd they can help it. The Sgt has me connect the caller to his cell phone to try and convince the guy to come out, but the caller is still belligerent, insisting they come to them, and repeatedly hangs up on the officer. Finally, an officer basically says "f**k it" and approaches the guy's house. I'm finally off the phone, 20 minutes after I should have been done, and take my tired a*s home.
When I look at the call the next day, the short of it is that the dude was tripping balls. The caller was obviously agitated and pacing in front of the home when the officer walked up. When he saw the officer, the caller immediately approached him, trying to remove his clothing to show the officer the non-existent "acid burns". The house was intact and had no structural damage. And that's why answering 911 2 minutes before you get to leave is [🎶the woooooOoooorssstttttt 🎶](http://iruntheinternet.com/lulzdump/images/gifs/parks-and-recreation-Jean-Ralphio-the-worst-worst-woooorst-1372637673p.gif?id=)
More lighthearted//
4) Not my story, but a coworker - she had a male caller saying he was having s******l thoughts and wanted to jump into traffic. While coworker is trying to get more information from him as responders are on the way, he gets frustrated with her, stating that she's distracting him and keeps making him miss the passing cars.
5) We had almost daily occurrences of callers reporting a man standing naked on the side of the road, mooning passing cars around 5am near the county line. It was so far away from our deputies' normal down time spots, and consistently around shift change, so they consistently were unable to locate the man by the time someone got to the area. Dispatch nicknamed him the Brown-eyed Bandit.
6) Female caller very concerned about something suspicious, mentioning a body in large trunk or suitcase and an abandoned house, but was unable to clarify details and kept changing the story when i asked questions in attempt to get a better idea of wtf she was talking about. She was getting increasingly agitated as I tried to refocus her attention on statements she already made and asked clarifying questions. Finally, she gets so fed up with me asking questions that she says "can I talk to someone else, someone other than you? Is Detective Stabler there?"
I'm fairly new at the time, and we work in a facility separate from the agencies we work with, so I don't know most of the officers by name. I give it serious thought for a second, thinking this may be someone on a different rotation. Then it hits me: "Are you talking about Detective Stabler from Law and Order??" *internally: ohhhhhhhhhh, this b***h is crazy.*
7) I don't remember the context, but I was asking for descriptive information on a caller's girlfriend of about a month.
Me: what's her date of birth?
Caller: I don't know, but I know she's a scorpio
If you read all this, imaginary cookies for you! Please forgive errors, this kept me occupied for my last hour or so at work on my phone.
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22points
#26
Not an operator (though, I want to be now). This us a 911 call on me made by my bf in our small hometown.
I have a rare disease called Fibrous Dysplasia/Mcune Albright Syndrome. FD is where some places on one or more of your bones is replaced with fibrous tissue. This makes them bend, break, and deform easily. I have it in multiple vital bones of my body.
Well, this leads to the one fateful night actually exactly one year ago tonight where my bf has to call 911. He says, "We need an ambulance!". She asks what for to which he responds "my girlfriend has FD and her legs broke.".
Her: "Was there an accident? Did she fall?".
Him: "No. She was walking." *getting a bit annoyed.*
Her: *Unbelieving despite my continuous screaming in the background* "What makes you think they're broken? What happened?"
Him: *just done* "Just.. Her legs are weak and they broke. Send an ambulance!".
Her: "okay, sir. I'm sending help. But, did she hit something? Did she fall on something wrong? How do you know they're broken?"
Him: *Gets right up by me while I'm screaming* "Her legs are broken!" *Click*
The ambulance that showed up wasn't even fully prepared. I guess they really did have a hard time believing that someone's legs could just break on them while walking. They had to tear up a box we had laying nearby to stabilize it as much as possible. And they had to lift me to the stretcher thing in a sheet with the help of the firemen. That was absolutely excruciating with a broken left tibia, broken left fibula, and broken and completely displace righr femur (the WORST). No meds until they got me to the plane to flight me to the hospital in the nearest city.
Lesson to operators: sometimes people aren't jusy crazy. Sometime bones really do just break.
I have a rare disease called Fibrous Dysplasia/Mcune Albright Syndrome. FD is where some places on one or more of your bones is replaced with fibrous tissue. This makes them bend, break, and deform easily. I have it in multiple vital bones of my body.
Well, this leads to the one fateful night actually exactly one year ago tonight where my bf has to call 911. He says, "We need an ambulance!". She asks what for to which he responds "my girlfriend has FD and her legs broke.".
Her: "Was there an accident? Did she fall?".
Him: "No. She was walking." *getting a bit annoyed.*
Her: *Unbelieving despite my continuous screaming in the background* "What makes you think they're broken? What happened?"
Him: *just done* "Just.. Her legs are weak and they broke. Send an ambulance!".
Her: "okay, sir. I'm sending help. But, did she hit something? Did she fall on something wrong? How do you know they're broken?"
Him: *Gets right up by me while I'm screaming* "Her legs are broken!" *Click*
The ambulance that showed up wasn't even fully prepared. I guess they really did have a hard time believing that someone's legs could just break on them while walking. They had to tear up a box we had laying nearby to stabilize it as much as possible. And they had to lift me to the stretcher thing in a sheet with the help of the firemen. That was absolutely excruciating with a broken left tibia, broken left fibula, and broken and completely displace righr femur (the WORST). No meds until they got me to the plane to flight me to the hospital in the nearest city.
Lesson to operators: sometimes people aren't jusy crazy. Sometime bones really do just break.
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22points
#27
It's kinda strange but stuff that sounds the most dramatic - people getting severely beaten during a call, or being shot at, admitting to a murder they committed in the last 30 seconds or even people killing themselves while they are on the phone to me... that doesn't bother me too much.
But give me a distressed elderly person and I get a lump in my throat. Combine that with any one of the above and it turns into a bit of a s**t shift. We've all got our triggers and sometimes the least spectacular stuff can be the hardest to deal with.
But give me a distressed elderly person and I get a lump in my throat. Combine that with any one of the above and it turns into a bit of a s**t shift. We've all got our triggers and sometimes the least spectacular stuff can be the hardest to deal with.
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22points
#28
My sister is an EMT in a small rural college town. Apparently there have been more than one calls about horses collapsing and hurting their rider/handler (broken arms, legs, trapped under horse, etc.). When she was new to it, someone just described it as a collapsed horse, and she thought that they were supposed to treat the horse's condition.
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21points
#29
Heard this one the other day. Not from the perspective of an operator but close...
EMS responds to a call where a man reported having MULTIPLE potatoes stuck up his bum.
Not red potatoes, those big brown suckers.
The kicker: “I was washing my potatoes in the shower when I slipped and fell and all the potatoes went up there”
O_O wut?
EMS responds to a call where a man reported having MULTIPLE potatoes stuck up his bum.
Not red potatoes, those big brown suckers.
The kicker: “I was washing my potatoes in the shower when I slipped and fell and all the potatoes went up there”
O_O wut?
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21points
#30
My wife has worked the poison information center for years ... she has stories...
Such as this one: Guy called, clearly in pain, ill and ease, and throughout the call my wife could hear the voice of a woman laughing uncontrollably. Turns out the guy wanted "a bit of quality intimacy" with his girlfriend, who just wasn't in the mood that night. He can't sleep, on account of this major case of blue balls. So he gets up, still in the dark, grabs the lotion and heads to the toilet to masturbate. That's when the burning started. Turns out it wasn't lotion after all, but a tube of Neet.
So .. the poor blue balled sumbitch is recounting this while in the throes of horrible dickhurt while his girlfriend is laughing hysterically ... and the laughter gets contagious as first my wife, then her co-workers all overhear whats happening and start laughing uncontrollably themselves. Told him to put it in a glass of cold ice water, with tears in their eyes.
...
On the other hand, there was the time a guy called after his pet tarantula fanged him in the tongue, after he put it in his mouth...
Such as this one: Guy called, clearly in pain, ill and ease, and throughout the call my wife could hear the voice of a woman laughing uncontrollably. Turns out the guy wanted "a bit of quality intimacy" with his girlfriend, who just wasn't in the mood that night. He can't sleep, on account of this major case of blue balls. So he gets up, still in the dark, grabs the lotion and heads to the toilet to masturbate. That's when the burning started. Turns out it wasn't lotion after all, but a tube of Neet.
So .. the poor blue balled sumbitch is recounting this while in the throes of horrible dickhurt while his girlfriend is laughing hysterically ... and the laughter gets contagious as first my wife, then her co-workers all overhear whats happening and start laughing uncontrollably themselves. Told him to put it in a glass of cold ice water, with tears in their eyes.
...
On the other hand, there was the time a guy called after his pet tarantula fanged him in the tongue, after he put it in his mouth...
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21points
#31
1979 NYC. Got a call from a crying child - a little boy - saying his mom and dad were fighting and his dad said he was going to throw the mom out of the window. I could hear a terrible fight going on in the background - woman screaming, things breaking, man yelling, etc. The poor kid didn't know his address. We didn't have the technology for call ID and would have to use reverse telephone books. A trace would take forever. Anyway while I'm trying to get the address I hear a horrific scream and glass breaking. A few seconds later the other operators in the room are getting calls about a woman lying in the courtyard who came out of a window. Very sad. Worst of all is that I am sure someone else in this apartment building must have heard this fight but no one called for help until it was too late. Poor kid. Working 911 in NYC during the 70s/80s was a nightmare. The City had a very high crime rate and s**t technology.
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21points
#32
The toughest ones for me involve kids. Any time a parent finds their child dead is especially tough. The single worst call I've ever taken though was a woman who was calling in that she was hearing weird noises in her house. While walking through her house she started screaming and told me there was someone in her house. There we a couple soft pops followed by a gargling sound. After the officers had cleared the house and found her, it finally came out during the investigation that her adult son had killed her while high and freaking out.
Gunshots don't sound like you'd think on the phone, they're rather soft. It's an eerie sound, something so violent being so soft that if you aren't paying attention you can miss it.
Gunshots don't sound like you'd think on the phone, they're rather soft. It's an eerie sound, something so violent being so soft that if you aren't paying attention you can miss it.
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20points
#33
I DO actually work for a 911 center. The call that has stuck with me the most was a call for two un conscience toddler twin girls. The mom called frantically because both weren't breathing. I stayed on the phone until help arrived but there wasn't much we could do.
The full story (which we rarely get by the way) is that the family went to bed early in the morning. The twins woke up and got up about two hours before mom. The 8 year old took them to her bed and covered them with a blanket, causing them to both suffocate. The real disturbing part is that by the time the officers and paramedics got there, the mom had changed their clothes and rubbed baby oil on them to give them that "life-life look". No criminal charges filed.
Edit: I work for a fairly large department, so there are a lot of stories. I don't want to clog the comments, but it's not unusual for a seasoned dispatcher to take calls of people dying on the phone, suicides on the phone, listening to violent crimes like robberies in progress. It's the nature of the job. The only calls that really stick with me are the ones where children are hurt physically or mentally. Oh yea, and I heard a coworker take a call from a guy that was actively stabbing his girlfriend in the face. Ok, now that you've heard all this, go try to have a good day!
The full story (which we rarely get by the way) is that the family went to bed early in the morning. The twins woke up and got up about two hours before mom. The 8 year old took them to her bed and covered them with a blanket, causing them to both suffocate. The real disturbing part is that by the time the officers and paramedics got there, the mom had changed their clothes and rubbed baby oil on them to give them that "life-life look". No criminal charges filed.
Edit: I work for a fairly large department, so there are a lot of stories. I don't want to clog the comments, but it's not unusual for a seasoned dispatcher to take calls of people dying on the phone, suicides on the phone, listening to violent crimes like robberies in progress. It's the nature of the job. The only calls that really stick with me are the ones where children are hurt physically or mentally. Oh yea, and I heard a coworker take a call from a guy that was actively stabbing his girlfriend in the face. Ok, now that you've heard all this, go try to have a good day!
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19points
#34
Wow there's a lot of love for us lately...
In another thread and an AMA that I did, I told my story of having to stay on the phone with a young man for about 40 minutes, maybe a little more, who had a very disturbed man break into his home, and with a loaded shotgun pointed at his face the entire time, demand that he call the police (he wanted a s*****e by cop).
I now realize that I didn't get overly detailed about it in my other mentionings of it, but this young man urinated himself, almost threw up, and was begging me to keep him alive...I haven't dreamt about it in a long time (it was several years ago), but it stuck with me.
In another thread and an AMA that I did, I told my story of having to stay on the phone with a young man for about 40 minutes, maybe a little more, who had a very disturbed man break into his home, and with a loaded shotgun pointed at his face the entire time, demand that he call the police (he wanted a s*****e by cop).
I now realize that I didn't get overly detailed about it in my other mentionings of it, but this young man urinated himself, almost threw up, and was begging me to keep him alive...I haven't dreamt about it in a long time (it was several years ago), but it stuck with me.
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19points
#35
My mom was a 911 dispatcher in the early 90's (I was 5 years old-ish) in Washington State. When I got older, I remember asking her about some of the calls that she could still recall. One in particular was pretty bad.
She was working one year on Halloween night and around 10 or 11pm she had a call come in that a couple guys were driving around town with a dummy or something dragging behind their truck. The dummy was falling apart and pieces of clothing/plastic were being torn off and scattered around the city. Being Halloween, it seemed like a prank but she had a patrol car try to find and stop the truck. As time goes by more and more people started to call in about it. Eventually the patrol car caught up with the truck and it turns out that it was a person. The guys had gone to a store earlier and when they left, they had backed their truck into an elderly man who's clothes got caught in the rear bumper or whatnot. The two guys never even knew that they were dragging around another human being all across town, for miles. The elderly man had passed away and those pieces of clothing scattered around town, was his clothing, flesh, and body parts. Still gives me chills.
She was working one year on Halloween night and around 10 or 11pm she had a call come in that a couple guys were driving around town with a dummy or something dragging behind their truck. The dummy was falling apart and pieces of clothing/plastic were being torn off and scattered around the city. Being Halloween, it seemed like a prank but she had a patrol car try to find and stop the truck. As time goes by more and more people started to call in about it. Eventually the patrol car caught up with the truck and it turns out that it was a person. The guys had gone to a store earlier and when they left, they had backed their truck into an elderly man who's clothes got caught in the rear bumper or whatnot. The two guys never even knew that they were dragging around another human being all across town, for miles. The elderly man had passed away and those pieces of clothing scattered around town, was his clothing, flesh, and body parts. Still gives me chills.
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19points
#36
We had a lady who would call all the time about people in her yard or on her house, usually doing...nasty things. Always a false alarm. This lady had been calling since way before I got my job, and even now after I've switched agencies, she's probably still calling. She's mental, but not a danger to herself or others, so no real need to commit her involuntarily.
Well, one day we get a call from her, about a man at her house, "causing the troubles" for her. My supervisor, who had answered the call, finally got fed up and asked to speak to the man. To everyone's surprise, the woman handed the phone over to the man, and there WAS someone there.
It was her brother, he was there trying to get her committed. We ended up, I believe, asking him to leave the property, because he couldn't have her committed against her will at that time.
Just goes to show you that crazy doesn't always mean wrong.
Well, one day we get a call from her, about a man at her house, "causing the troubles" for her. My supervisor, who had answered the call, finally got fed up and asked to speak to the man. To everyone's surprise, the woman handed the phone over to the man, and there WAS someone there.
It was her brother, he was there trying to get her committed. We ended up, I believe, asking him to leave the property, because he couldn't have her committed against her will at that time.
Just goes to show you that crazy doesn't always mean wrong.
18points
#37
Hmm
One day I had walked in after getting a subway sandwich, my shift started at 1pm. Coworkers had recieved both 911 and normal calls from a wife and mother about their husband/son. He was just walking around and talking about taking all the children to heaven and circling the house for hours. There was a newborn, a toddler and I think a 5 year old.
It was on a weekend and our chief advised that as long as he isn't acting dangerous or violent, just odd, then they can wait for a mental health warrant from the justice of the peace on monday. It's east texas and it's a good 20-30 minute drive going the speed limit to get anywhere in the county, and sometimes over an hour from one end to another, if you know where you are going.
Well, this continues, up until about 11pm. The mother and wife are getting more and more antsy that he's been walking in circles all day and muttering the same thing, for hours.
Then I get a call that begins with a loud bang, screaming and crying from the wife and her newborn.
The husband had k****d his two sons and mother with a shotgun, and was coming for her.
She cried that why didnt we help them, and to please save me and my babies.
And then after about 10 seconds, another bang - the wife was k****d near instantly and the baby had 1-2 pellets into its head, and was making gurgling sounds before dying.
After that, maybe a minute later, I heard another bang, the guy had put a slug into his shotgun and blasted the top portion of his face off - laid on the ground and drowned in his blood.
and thats it.
One day I had walked in after getting a subway sandwich, my shift started at 1pm. Coworkers had recieved both 911 and normal calls from a wife and mother about their husband/son. He was just walking around and talking about taking all the children to heaven and circling the house for hours. There was a newborn, a toddler and I think a 5 year old.
It was on a weekend and our chief advised that as long as he isn't acting dangerous or violent, just odd, then they can wait for a mental health warrant from the justice of the peace on monday. It's east texas and it's a good 20-30 minute drive going the speed limit to get anywhere in the county, and sometimes over an hour from one end to another, if you know where you are going.
Well, this continues, up until about 11pm. The mother and wife are getting more and more antsy that he's been walking in circles all day and muttering the same thing, for hours.
Then I get a call that begins with a loud bang, screaming and crying from the wife and her newborn.
The husband had k****d his two sons and mother with a shotgun, and was coming for her.
She cried that why didnt we help them, and to please save me and my babies.
And then after about 10 seconds, another bang - the wife was k****d near instantly and the baby had 1-2 pellets into its head, and was making gurgling sounds before dying.
After that, maybe a minute later, I heard another bang, the guy had put a slug into his shotgun and blasted the top portion of his face off - laid on the ground and drowned in his blood.
and thats it.
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18points
#38
This one requires a little backstory before the actual call. We had a female that called quite often, even moved from our jurisdiction to another location, but because we were better at customer service, she wouldn't call them on 911, she'd call our 7-digit non-emergency line to get us. She called regularly, often for ridiculousness like the time she told me her gay neighbors, who were abominations, were also watching her while she showered. Another instance, she called to let us know elves were at her house and had stolen both her hair and her uterus. Needless to say, not all there. Every time we ask her if she wants someone out there, and she always says no.
Fast forward awhile, she's in this other jurisdiction so we can't respond mind you, and tells us that a man was smoking cigarettes under her mattress. We go through the usual routines for her, and surprisingly she says she wants someone over. We call the local PD and tell them the nature of her call and politely suggest, due to her out-of-the-ordinary request to see someone, that they send someone out. Police arrived to find a homeless man smoking cigarettes under her bed. He'd pried open a window and snuck in to get out of the weather.
Few crazy/funny/weird calls that are just bizarre:
Lady calls to complain that the power entering her house is now coming from a different direction, due to construction down the road from her to the north and that it is causing power fluctuations. Being rational, I let it go and go to tell her that it's a power company problem, not 911. She them says it's our problem because every time the power fluctuated, people entered her house. My personal login was that it must be interfering with her alarm, so I asked how they were gaining entry, to which she responded "Through my chest."
My brain tried to rationalize it in any way I could, but nothing was coming to me, short of someone tunnelling into her home, which was absurd. So, my next question was "What chest?"
"Through my chest, you know, from right between my breasts." She received a prompt response.
Next up was the woman that gave me a general area to check because "Zombies were surrounding her house", and she wanted us to "Get out there and do what we do".
Then there was Jesus, the Morning Star, the Trinity, who needed help because she had lost her throne and wanted help finding it.
Fast forward awhile, she's in this other jurisdiction so we can't respond mind you, and tells us that a man was smoking cigarettes under her mattress. We go through the usual routines for her, and surprisingly she says she wants someone over. We call the local PD and tell them the nature of her call and politely suggest, due to her out-of-the-ordinary request to see someone, that they send someone out. Police arrived to find a homeless man smoking cigarettes under her bed. He'd pried open a window and snuck in to get out of the weather.
Few crazy/funny/weird calls that are just bizarre:
Lady calls to complain that the power entering her house is now coming from a different direction, due to construction down the road from her to the north and that it is causing power fluctuations. Being rational, I let it go and go to tell her that it's a power company problem, not 911. She them says it's our problem because every time the power fluctuated, people entered her house. My personal login was that it must be interfering with her alarm, so I asked how they were gaining entry, to which she responded "Through my chest."
My brain tried to rationalize it in any way I could, but nothing was coming to me, short of someone tunnelling into her home, which was absurd. So, my next question was "What chest?"
"Through my chest, you know, from right between my breasts." She received a prompt response.
Next up was the woman that gave me a general area to check because "Zombies were surrounding her house", and she wanted us to "Get out there and do what we do".
Then there was Jesus, the Morning Star, the Trinity, who needed help because she had lost her throne and wanted help finding it.
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17points
#39
My dad was an ambulance driver for the French army in Tahiti and he received a called one day that an intoxicated army officer jumped into a pool without any water...headfirst.
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17points
#40
Throwaway as my place REALLY doesn't like us talking about work outside of work.
Had a call for a brother who killed his other brother with a hammer (the pick part) while the victim's little daughter was watching. The daughter called us from another room and told us her daddy's eye fell out.
Perp was apprehended, daughter taken by relative. Had to smoke after that one, and I don't even smoke.
Had a call for a brother who killed his other brother with a hammer (the pick part) while the victim's little daughter was watching. The daughter called us from another room and told us her daddy's eye fell out.
Perp was apprehended, daughter taken by relative. Had to smoke after that one, and I don't even smoke.
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17points