When I started working cellphones weren’t universal and pay phones existed. Sometimes we would have to call into headquarters and talk to a supervisor. Sometimes the easiest way was to go to a pay phone and call 911. They were our dispatchers sitting right next to the supervisor.
On my own a couple of times. Just traffic accidents if I remember right. One was right in front of my house. One bad aspect of living rural was I went through 4 dispatchers before I got the one that could send the right help.
More times than I care to think about. Several times when my wife was having medical problems; the worst being when I came home from work and found her at the bottom of the basement stairs. More recently when I started having chest pains and other problems. This does not count the times when a friend drove me to the ER.
At least five times, but I can only remember four specifically:
When I was 17 and some woman was running down the street yelling for someone to call 911 because her ex was trying to kill her and her son. (And she was not exaggerating. Guy tried to run her over–tire marks in the front yard and everything.)
While driving through the West Side I saw somebody dump what I swear looked like a .50 cal Desert Eagle into a dumpster. Whatever it was, it was definitely a big-ass gun.
Some jackasses fighting down the street from me. Some contractor was pissed about not being paid by the owner of the building for doing work and he came back shouting and threatening and getting into a rather pathetic semblance of a “fight” out there. I actually called two or three times before getting the fuck out there myself because I was getting pissed off they were making a racket and managed to de-escalate the situation until the police finally came by about 15 minutes later. Totally out of character for me, but I was so fucking pissed at the noise and the lack of police response that I decided to try my hand at it.
Some dude walking down the street in the middle of the day testing to see if car doors were locked.
Just once, on one of the worst days of my life. I found my mother lying on the floor of her bathroom.
Called 911, and the paramedics got there pretty quick, but there was nothing they could do. She had had a stroke while getting ready for bed the night before.
I haven’t, because it’s 999 where I live, but yeah, I’ve called emergency services a number of times - my wife is severely allergic to sulphites and if she has occasion to require the use of her epi-pen, we are expected to call 999 and request a paramedic - even if she starts to feel better, they have to attend to check up on her heart and breathing etc - it’s happened a few times.
Most memorable for all of the wrong reasons was an incident when my son was about 8 or 9 - he was playing swordfights out on the public green at the front of the house, with some random kid of about the same age (we were in the garden). They were both going at it a little too enthusiastically - the other kid lunged, my son stepped aside and hit the other boy with his stick, obviously a little harder than he probably intended to - the other kid ran off crying, my son came indoors.
Three or four minutes later a huge ugly bloke (the boy’s uncle or something) was hammering on my back door - he had the look of someone who had been in a lot of fights in his life - very muscular, cauliflower ears, nose that had obviously been broken in the past, etc. He was demanding that I should march my son out into the street and let the other kid hit him with a stick, because that would make everything right. I told him that was not going to happen, at which point he threatened to drag me out of the house and kill me. I shut and locked the door and called 999; the police arrived quite promptly and arrested him. He had quite the record already. I don’t recall exactly what happened, but I heard later that he was apparently cautioned not to ever come near our house again, and we didn’t see him again. I expect he might have had some other outstanding business with the law or probation and this was the final straw.
Only for sick or dying relatives or friends and each time I’ve been amazed by emergency responders patience calm and speed. I count myself (and ppl that I’m calling for) very lucky to have received such good service. About 9 times for my mom (it became semi routine I cared for her when she was dying ) and each time they were extremely professional and helpful. This goes for Cops , ems and Fire. So far so good (as to all interactions with emergency services being positive). Hopefully that remains so. (the fire one was for a large barn on fire that I couldn’t believe no one else had called in it was soooo huge).
A few times; reported an accident, one involving an ex; and most recently a few weeks ago when my neighbor dropped a cigar, and the cottonwoods had blanketed the neighborhood with a nice layer of fuzz that went up in flames, lighting both of our yards on fire….
I called after finding a man passed out under a table at my local bakery-cafe. The paramedics recognized him immediately as a “regular customer” of the ambulance company.
I called once when my son had croup and was gasping for breath.
I called when the guy in the turn lane across from me at an intersection couldn’t start his (very old) car, got out, popped the hood, and flames were coming up from the carburetor.
I called when a woman I did not recognize was running in circles around the yard of the house next door in her underwear (it was about 40F) shouting “I’m having a frenzy!” It was a weird house-- I met the landlord once, and he was kind of an asshole, but at any rate, I lived next door for almost 20 years, and there was only one tenant who ever stayed more than a year. The guy there when the woman was having the frenzy was apparently making ecstasy (and selling it direct to clients sometimes). That guy wasn’t even there 6 months.
I’ve called many more times-- probably 15 or 16 times in my life, once to report a car accident I was involved in where the car couldn’t move and was a traffic hazard, and another time to report an accident I witnesses, in which I was concerned a driver was injured.
I’ve also called the police non-emergency number a few times, not so much anymore, though. Before cell phones, I used to call it when I saw a car broken down on the highway and in need of help-- I’d note the mile marker, and pull off at the next pay phone.
Multiple times while living in Little Rock because someone was firing shots too close to home.
One time, in Little Rock, when there were about 18 teenagers brawling in my front yard (I had just moved into that house a few days earlier).
One time in, you guessed it, Little Rock, when my neighbor woke me up around 2:00 AM shouting that he was going to murder his wife.
One time, Little Rock adjacent, when my neighbor two doors down shot someone (they had just moved in three days prior). Despite shooting someone, they’re the best neighbors we’ve had in that house.
Once in Texas when some creep followed my sister home.
Another time in Texas when my neighbors were in what sounded like a violent domestic dispute.
Once, on behalf of a deaf neighbor who had locked herself out of her apartment and who (through a notepad and pencil) asked me to. I thought it probably didn’t warrant a 911 call, but with the difficulty of communication, I couldn’t be sure: Maybe she had some essential medications inside, or the like.
I can only think of one time. A car hit a woman riding her bike by my wife’s aunt’s house. She wasn’t critically hurt, but was shaken up and had hit her head. The woman in the minivan that hit her was very upset over the whole thing. I called 911 before the driver even got out of her vehicle. It looked a lot worse than it ended up being. I thought the bicyclist may have been knocked out or even dead.
Heh, my kid and a friend got 911 called on them in a similar situation. I mean, better safe than sorry, but it was sort of funny. After talking to the kids and letting them go, the cops came to my door to tell me they got a report of kids walking outside without coats after dark.
It was winter “after dark” meant it was 5:30. Instead of arguing with kids about wearing jackets just let them be cold for the block and half they’re walking, maybe they’ll figure it out. No mention that one of the kids was in sandals, and the other barefoot.
Oh my, so much this. Our Nextdoor and other places are always filled with “don’t bother 911, call the non-emergency number”. They ring the exact same operator at my police department.
If you think you might need to call 911, then call 911. Let them make the final decision on what to do; they’re the trained professional.
I once called the equivalent of 911, but not in the USA - I called the emergency number in another nation when someone accidentally fell several stories from an apartment building.
Three times, I think. Twice was for women I delivered Meals on Wheels to. One of them had fallen and had been lying in her own urine for several hours, and the other was feeling ill. The third was a car accident that looked pretty serious.
When I was in 7th grade, I came home to an empty house (no surprise, latchkey kid) and saw that someone had kicked in the back door. Called the cops. Was part of a string of break ins in the neighborhood.
About five years back, I was on a rural road intersection when someone zipped past from the crossing road and went right into 7-8’ deep storm ditch with the car wedging itself halfway down and upside down. Turned out to be some poor kid on his first pre-driver’s ed test drive with his dad. They were fine and hopefully the car was “okay” as well since it was spared a real impact with the bottom.
A year or two ago there was an accident close to in front of the house. By the time I dialed it in, the operator cut me off that it had been reported already. Hey, I tried.
Once. We apologized for perhaps over-reacting, but we saw a guy get grabbed by three people, handcuffed, and thrown into the back of an unmarked van. Police scrambled, stopped the van in a less than friendly way (no SWAT team, but they turned up in force and ready to rumble.) The police called us later to say it was part of a stag party for the groom, but that they appreciated that we called.
Called the non-emergency police number to report a sealed piece of pipe with a string on one end that was on top of a phone booth–that’s how long ago it was. The first police officer to arrive ambled over, took a look, backed away, sealed off the area, and waited for the experts to take it away. No idea if it was a pipe bomb or a prank.
I called because my house was on fire. I didn’t talk to anyone because they put me on hold. I couldn’t wait because, you know, my house was on fire. I guess they knew the address from the landline (I didn’t hang up, just put the phone down) but others probably called in it, too.
One really snowy and icy day, I went to my mother’s for lunch and she was feeling bad and thought she needed to go to the ER. I was afraid to try to drive her there in the worsening conditions so I called for an ambulance.
One night about 1 a.m., a man started banging on my front door yelling “lady please let me in, please let me in lady” over and over. Scared the shit out of me. I called 911. When no one showed up for 10 minutes and the guy was pulling on the door still yelling, I called again. This time the operator stayed on the line with me. By the time the cops got there, the guy was gone. They did a cursory search around the house and I got the feeling they thought I made it up. About a year later, I was at Kroger when someone came up behind me and said “hey lady, how are you?”. I turned around and it was my creepy neighbor from a few houses down. I recognized the voice and realized it had been him.
I didn’t call this one in but it was for me. I had just moved into a new apartment. I went in the bathroom to take a shower and for some reason closed the door (I lived alone). Then when I tried to open the door, the doorknob just turned round and round. There was no object that I could use to try to dismantle the lock. I tried to kick the door open to no avail. I pounded on the floor (I was on the second floor) but it being tile, that was pretty useless. I finally got the window open several inches and started yelling for help. Eventually a woman in the apartment building next door came to her window and I told her I was locked in my bathroom and could she call 911. Several minutes later, a big burly fireman climbed up a ladder, got the window all the way open, came in and kicked the door open. While I stood in the bathtub wrapped in a towel. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
Our local system has you call 911 anytime you want to talk to the police. Always seems weird, but that is the system.
I can only recall a couple of unusual ones.
I was hiking w/ my kids and we found a dead body in a river. I recall the dispatcher’s first word was, “Yikes!”
My wife woke up in the middle of the night and noticed a strange car parked in our driveway. The car turned out to have been stolen and the cops later arrested the guy who had stolen it and driven to our neighborhood to presumably break in to cars/houses.
Once when driving on the expressway, a motorcycle immediately to my left drove full speed into the back of a stopped work truck. The heavy cruiser crumpled like aluminum foil. The dispatcher asked it I thought he was hurt. I responded that I was pretty sure he was dead. All the while, the adrenaline was really pumping and I was feeling bad about using my phone while driving.