While we’re talking 911, I’ve got an amusing story…
One of my previous employers was large enough that they had their own phone prefix and telecom guy working in-house. We’ll call him Bill. His pager number was 911.
The procedure for high priority phone issues was to call the number for pagers, enter the pager number, and then the callback number to be sent to the pager.
Yep, it would happen often enough that someone would skip calling the pager dispatch number and just dial 911 and try to tell the 911 operator that they needed Bill to come fix their phones.
1st time - I was about 17. Saturday night and a large group of friends, and friends-of-friends, showed up at my house knowing that I was home without parents (permanently - long story). I locked the door knowing what would happen if they came in. Over the course of the night they’d probably steal everything and kick holes in the drywall (these were not good friends). I called 911 when they started to get a bit violent and destructive outside. In the crowd was a close friend who had assembled the mob knowing my house situation, and he was worried that he’d look bad in front of the group. I remember him pleading.
The 911 operator thought I was wasting his time and vaguely threatened me with some sort of charge of misusing emergency services. Me simply talking to 911 was enough to get them to leave.
2nd time - Coworker in the plant fell into a scrap dumpster and severely broke his leg.
3rd time - Then girlfriend, now wife, was having a gallbladder attack and couldn’t be moved. It was one of our first dates and we spent the night in some hospital in Toronto. Made an incredible number of hospital trips with her, now that I think of it.
4 for medical emergencies
3 for physical danger/need of police
3 for routine need of police; cars blocking garage twice and some stolen property tossed/left in my yard. In this city there isn’t a direct dial option and any need for police or fire has to go through 911.
Came home to the front door being open and the contents tossed about. Typical burglary. Oddly, the cats did not take advantage of the open door and escape.
I’ve stopped for cars in trouble a few times, and then called 911 for help/tow.
Driver up ahead went off the road in a snowstorm
Driver up ahead went off the road in a snowstorm
Car up ahead started dropping pieces and cars around it started hitting each other
A couple of weeks ago, my father called from home saying he had hit his head badly so I wanted the ambulance to check him out.
Many years ago when I lived in a shit neighborhood in DC, my apartment was broken into. I don’t why I bothered to call, but it was what I felt like I was supposed to do. I’m pretty sure I used the non-emergency number.
I honestly don’t remember if I called or Mr. CelticKnot called when the drunk driver almost ran us off the highway in the middle of nowhere.
He called for me twice. Once for a seizure and once for a severe gall bladder attack.
I said 1-3 but it’s “maybe one.” I’ve called the non-emergency line a couple times for stuff that wasn’t an emergency.
The maybe one was a domestic violence call that might have been to the non-emergency line. There was a couple just around the corner that liked to handle their disagreements at high volume; well she really liked the high volume part. I knew the typical playbook. She’d screech at him for a while about her perceived wrongs. Eventually, he’d either leave in a screech of tires or there’d be a short period of mutual yelling that petered out pretty quickly into passive-aggressive snark before it ended completely. Sometimes the police were seen well after they were done; they rarely went on for much longer than the typical response time.
This night was different. His rebuttal phase kicked in early and the mutual yelling went longer. It died out and then it started again in the parking lot behind their apartment. Then she made a thinly veiled threat. :smack: I went to the phone to call 911. By the time I grabbed the phone and looked back out the window, they’d massively deescalated into it’s almost over snark with him half in the car. I think I still called 911 instead of the emergency line on the possibility it was going to ramp back up.
I work in a 911 center and am excluding reports I generated as a result of my work. That leaves five calls to 9-1-1 in my civilian capacity, all for motor vehicle accidents.
One was in Athens, Georgia and was major damage when one vehicle crossed centerline on a four lane road and caromed off numerous other vehicles. Road was a debris field after.
Another MVA I came upon on the way to work one morning.
And a weird one where traffic was stop and go, moving at a walking pace at best. A male pedestrian walked out into traffic, jumped backwards onto the hood of a stationary car and rolled off on to the pavement. Total acting job. I called it in so there would be a witness that the car driver didn’t do anything wrong.
I called in for a hit and run when someone damaged my rental car while I was parked at the bank. Got a busted tail light. The rental agency never asked me to pay for it.
And one more hit and run where someone crossed centerline and side swiped my car hard enough to lift the right side of my car off the road.
Dialed 112 (the European emergency number) about once every 2 years of my adult life, every time for someone else‘s accident or medical emergency (including two cases of people passed out drunk in freezing weather).
The last time was the scariest: I woke up at 1 am to my mobile phone ringing, did not get it in time, then found two voicemails of an old woman saying: I need an emergency doctor; I cannot breathe. Fortunately her number appeared in my list of missed calls, I could give that number to the 112 center and she answered the phone when they called. I called her later that day to check; she was in hospital and it turned out that she thought the mobile emergency number was her mobile network access number followed by her area code (at the other end of Germany), followed by 112. Which just happens to be my mobile number. I asked her to call just 112 the next time. A good thing her phone was not set to disable caller ID… - another good thing that my phone was set to override nighttime quiet mode for repeated calls.
I honestly can’t remember how many times I’ve called.
I’ve called for traffic accidents I’ve witnessed (numerous), for deceased homeless people I came across during my morning commute (twice), ill family members (at least half a dozen), the time the guy tried to steal our truck, the time the guy tried to force his way into our house, bar fights, shots fired in the neighborhood, drunks/drugged people wandering around staggering into the street (yeah, fun to live next to a bar), buildings on fire (houses, abandoned feed store, burning laundromat) once for a vehicle on fire…
I’m not constantly on the phone with them, but over the years I have not hesitated to dial.
I’ve called a few times. The most memorable ones are:
The night my psychopathic roommate came home so intoxicated he was a walking zombie. I told him to leave and he did for a while but came back screaming threats at his ex-girlfriend who did not live in the house. He then tried to smash the garbage can through the front window. I was terrified and was on the phone with 911 pleading with them to hurry. The police showed up about 20 minutes later. He had left by then.
Finding an injured man on the sidewalk in front of my house. It was dark and early and my brain wasn’t fully functional. When I asked if he needed help, he said no. I called anyway. Turned out it was a neighbour three or four doors up who had fallen. When it got light enough to see, there was blood all over the road and the car parked near my house.
Seeing a kid pushing a bicycle on the side of the highway. He could have been 7 or 17, I only got a quick look, but I was concerned for his safety.
I’ve called 112 twice in my life. Once I was walking down the street and a guy riding a motorcycle lost control and ended up hitting a lamppost literally in front of me.
The other time was for a domestic accident involving someone who managed to spill a pot of boiling water over themselves.
Once to report that I’d stalled out and couldn’t start my car in the middle of a busy intersection. 911 operator chewed me out for that.
Once when a drunk guy passed out in my front yard. They made me crazy asking for descriptives and I finally said “hey, he’s the only drunk passed out in my yard.”
Once for Mom. She’d already refused transport since my brother who in charge, hadn’t filled out some form that didn’t allow her to refuse transport when the EMT’S advised it. So I called back and got them to come. She’s in her 90’s with ALZ and at the time living in a facility that allowed her her own apt. No longer the case.
Once for a house fire. Flames shot out of an outlet. We called, electrical fire in crawlspace getting ready to “flash over.”
Couple other times but I am boring myself here