Did you hear about the horrible policeman act?

[binka_nugget]

That's horrible!

Heard about that, too.. what a load of crock. What's the point in calling 911 anymore?

My brother works at Canadian Footwear here and one day some drunk guy came in with a snow white rabbit threatening to throw it on the ground and squish it's brains out if no one bought it from him for $20. A co-worker called 911 and they said "We can't come, no human life is in danger". WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THAT?!

What happened!? Did someone pay the $20??

[Karen]

You should have called animal control, not 911, about the bunny. I hope he got arrested for animal cruelty, and that his dreams are haunted by bunnies with sharp teeth.

But anyway, the boy the thread is initailly about should be commended, and his family is suing the 911 operators. The child did exactly what he was supposed to do. The operator did not. Hopefully the suit, while it cannot replace the boy's mother and her role in his life, will change the attitude, procedures and training of 911 employees.

[luvofallhorses]

[Jessika]

To reiterate, it was the 911 operator who told him to stop playing around, NOT a police officer. They played the recording over television not here but in other cities. In fact, the operator actually threatened to "send a police man to the house and you will be in big trouble!". Well TECHNICALLY even if they do get a prank call, they are supposed to send an officer over to the house to investigate just in case!

Here is an article:

DETROIT-- A 5-year-old boy called 911 to report that his mother had collapsed in their apartment, but an operator told him he shouldn't be playing on the phone, and she died before help arrived.

The family of Sherrill Turner, 46, of Detroit, doesn't know whether a swifter response could have saved her life, but they want to know why the operator apparently treated the call as if it was a prank.

"Clearly there is nothing in that that sounded like a prank," Delaina Patterson, the eldest of Turner's 10 children, said Friday.

Detroit police said the 911 response was under investigation.

After Turner collapsed Feb. 20 on the kitchen floor, her son, Robert, placed two calls to 911, Patterson said. In the first call, Patterson said Robert told an operator that his mother had passed out, but the operator asked to speak with an adult.

When he called back later, Patterson said, an operator said: "You shouldn't be playing on the phone."

In a tape of the call, parts of which were broadcast by Detroit-area television stations WJBK and WDIV, the operator 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."

In an audio of the tape played on TV, some of what the boy says is unintelligible.

Patterson, who lives in suburban Detroit, said her brother placed the first call about 6 p.m., and police didn't arrive until about three hours later. She said only Robert and his mother were home at the time.

Detroit police spokesman James Tate said it was at least an hour before authorities arrived, but he said he didn't have details. By that time, the boy's mother had died, he said.

"The operator may have believed he was playing on the phone," Tate said.

The 911 operator remains on the job amid the investigation, Tate said.

Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said it is important not to rush to judgment.

"The citizens of Detroit can be assured that our department is meticulously examining every aspect of what occurred," Bully-Cummings said Friday in a news release, "and if disciplinary action is recommended following the completion of the investigation, then that is the course that will be taken."

She declined further comment "due to imminent or pending litigation."

Kimberly Harris, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1023, said the 911 operator deserves the benefit of the doubt as the response is investigated.

"Part of the tapes and the boy's responses were inaudible," said Harris, whose union represents 911 operators.

Robert, who turned 6 last month, is living with relatives in the Detroit area, Patterson said. She said he wasn't available for an interview Friday, but he had recounted the call to local broadcasters.

"I tried to tell them she wouldn't talk," Robert told WDIV.

Source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...ETRO/604080399

[jesse_3]

That is absolutely horrible! I can't imagine what that poor boy feels like What has this world come to?

Stephanie

[Miss Z]

Oh my gosh, how terrible and sad . That poor boy! He would have been panicking about his mother at that time, I can barely imagine what kind of state he would have been in when that operator was clearly taking him for a pranker, and was also rather rude aswell.

the operator 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."

What an idiot. Threatening that poor kid when he was desperate to help his mother. And another thing, has this operator ever spoken on the phone to someone unconcious before? I think not.

[Jods]

This is terrible...
I used to work at walmart and once the police called and started yelling at me that there were kids outside calling 911 then hanging up, really how the hell was I supposed to know they were doing this on a payphone and to call me inside the store and tell me to get out there NOW and tell them to stop really made me mad, he could have done it alot nicer but the thing is why would he phone and yell at me like it my fault some kid is dialing 911... I think they need to work out some glitches in their system for that childs sake!

[dukedogsmom]

To reiterate, it was the 911 operator who told him to stop playing around, NOT a police officer. They played the recording over television not here but in other cities. In fact, the operator actually threatened to "send a police man to the house and you will be in big trouble!". Well TECHNICALLY even if they do get a prank call, they are supposed to send an officer over to the house to investigate just in case!

Thanks for pointing that out! And we get prank calls all the time but never is a call ignored. I was so shocked when I heard about this. That poor boy.