OT: Kid's Mother Dies While 911 Operator Thinks phone call is prank

Ramblings
1

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/8539537/detail.html

[B]Police Investigate Response To 911 Call[/B]

Young Boy’s Attempt To Save His Mother Fails

POSTED: 6:11 pm EDT April 7, 2006
Detroit police are investigating a 911 call that hurt rather than benefited a mother and her child.Robert Turner, 5, called 911 when his mother, Sherill Turner, who suffered from a heart condition, collapsed in their Detroit home.When a 911 operator answered the call, she didn’t take Robert’s claims seriously, and told him he was going to get in trouble if he didn’t put his mother on the phone.Operator: "Where’s the grown-ups at?"Robert: InaudibleOperator: "Let me speak to her before I send the police over there."A friend of that 911 operator offered her apology to Robert and his family.“I’d like to express our condolences to Robert’s family,” said Kimberly Harris, a 911 operator. "I think he did what he was supposed to do. I know he did what he was supposed to do."Police are investigating the response to Robert’s call.Operators told Local 4 they take nearly 2 million 911 calls every year, and nearly 40 percent of them are not emergencies.

I don’t care what anyone thinks this is purely inexcusable. Some phone calls might be pranks you just don’t write them all off as pranks. Man i feel bad for this kid and their family.

2

I heard the actual phone call on the radio this morning and the operator came across as a bitch. She was talking down to the kid as if she was chastising him for trying to play a joke. It was disturbing to hear it after knowing the end result. I know they get a lot of non-life threatening calls but that’s a situation where you simply HAVE to take every call serious because you just never know. Sad story.

3

Yea…I heard it too…she sounded like a jaded operator.

Gotta believe that little boy will think twice before he ever dials 911 again!

4

There’s been a million dollar lawsuit filed.

5
[b]A friend[/b] of that 911 operator offered her apology to Robert and his family.

This is the part that makes me even more upset. Have the guts to apologize to the kid yourself lady.

6

apparently the kid called twice. the first time they blamed him for being a prank call. so he sat there and not knowing what to do called them again 3 hours later.

7

I think the proper punishment is if she gets sick, her family isn’t allowed to call 911 to save her.
What goes around comes around.

8

yeah i’d actually have to agree with you on that one. quick someone infect her with a deadly virus.

9

I say hang her