Detroit 911 operator says 'quit playing with the phone'

Apr 10, 2006, 10:42 PM ET2 posts by 2 posters
2 posts
Herb Kauhry
and refuses to send the police because of the prank calls.    Hmmmm,
doesn't that sound familiar?   Police won't come because of all the prank
calls they've gotten.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3784977.html

"We teach our children in the face of an emergency to call for help and call 911," Fieger said at his offices in the Detroit suburb of Southfield. "But when children call and ask for help, they're ignored, they're dismissed and they're threatened." Robert Turner, who was 5 at the time, was alone with his mother when she collapsed in the bedroom. In the first call, he told the operator that his mother had passed out, but the operator asked to speak with an adult.

When he called back about three hours later, he repeated that his mother had passed out. Another operator said: "You shouldn't be playing on the phone." Later she said: "Now put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you gonna be in trouble."

Police eventually arrived at the house after the second call, but Turner already was dead. An ambulance never came.

Aaron HirshbergHerb Kauhry

There are numerous opportunities for humor here, but because of what happened, I will pass.

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