[Unbelievable] Mom Dies After Boy's 911 Call Considered Prank

Well they can expect a massive lawsuit - which from the information in the article sounds justified.

 

That is a tragic story. Prank calls or not, the operator's job is to dispatch the message to the right people, she failed to do that. Instead of doing her job, she decided to lecture a 6-year old boy.

 

I thought they were legally required to dispatch a police car no matter what?

When I was 8 or 9 both my parents and our across the street neighbor had the same type of cordless phone -- a phone that housed this weird defect. Whenever the battery was running low, it would automatically call 911 as a precautionary measure. So both my parents and my neighbors had police cars show up to their house, complaining of a 911-dial-and-hang-up, three or four times before some dispatcher told us what the issue was. Each time the phone was the culprit, left for too many hours between couch cushions or something.

But I thought, even for pranks, a dispatcher was supposed to send a squad car out? So sad, even if it was a prank, it should be a fireable offense for going against protocol like that.

 

This is terrible.

And what a sad message to send the child. Do everything that you've been told to do and your mother dies.

 

that's horrible...i agree there should be a lawsuit, but all the money in the world wont compensate for growing up without a mother

reminds me of when a kid when to the fire dept in houston a while back asking for medical attention and they sent him home and he died shortly afterwards

somebody needs to be held accountable

 

Pretty tragic stuff.

Our emergency responders need more funding so that any case can be handled, even pranks.

 

Wow that sucks. I worked 24hrs this weekend at Bryan Fire Department with the medics. WE took a few calls.

sad, they are going to be suied.....alot.

 

I'm pretty sure the mother had already passed if he found her unconscious and not breathing.

Still tragic though.

 

Sick...

How does this happen?

The kid was 6 years old. How many of us made prank calls when we were 6 years old???

I know she can't tell how old the boy but he had to sound like a youngster not a pimple faced teenager.

Even if you think it's a prank you have to take the proper steps.

I don't see how she can go back to work with her head on straight..

 

I heard the call on CNN. I hope that woman, and those responsible for hiring her, pay a steep price for their actions. It's inconceivable that a person hired to do a job like that would respond to a call in that fashion. You can't bring back the dead, but you can make those responsible pay.

That poor kid.

 

the lady may have died anyway, but still not an excuse. the operator should be fired.

 

That is absolutely ridiculous. Even if you receive previous prank calls you shouldn't automatically cast the next one off as another prank call. It's sad that this resulted in the death of a child's mother.

 

thats bull****

the lady should be fired

 

I don't really blame the operator, I'm sure her job is tough and handles thousands of these calls and has helped thousands of people. It must be a procedure issue that is the problem. The system is obviously not perfect when abused.

 

the operator should have said, "Do you want us to come over and shoot her?"


all kidding aside, i agree that every call should be considered serious until proven otherwise.

 

She let the prank calls get in the way of her objectivity. If she's not going to be fired, then she should be demoted. This argument put forth by her employer that she received five prank calls earlier is a joke. How you can sit there and say that, because she had some prank calls, she should then be skeptical about incoming calls and do something like this is really messed up. I think their on the TV trying to justify her actions but there really is no justification. It's not her place to waste time on what should be assumed to be emergency calls to determine if a call is legit. If it is a prank call, then let the cops deal with it after-the-fact. I would hate to think that kids have been trained to call 9-1-1 in case of emergency and get someone on the other end of the phone who won't take the call seriously. The whole system then breaks down and becomes a joke itself. I hope they learned something from this in doing their job in the future.

 

Remember, though the "system" allows for a squad car to be sent out everytime a 911 call is made. SHE made the decision to go against the system in this instance.

I'm sure she has to deal with prank **** all day, but she should never have gone against the system in refusing to send out a police car to where the 911 call originated from.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5875570,00.html

Detroit 911 Operators Are Arraigned

DETROIT (AP) - Two 911 operators who authorities say did not believe a 5-year-old boy who called to say his mother had collapsed were arraigned Friday on willful neglect of duty charges.

Judge Jimmylee Gray entered not guilty pleas for Sharon Nichols 43, and Terri Sutton, 47. If convicted of the misdemeanor, they could get a year in jail.

The women declined to comment afterward, but their lawyers said the operators intend to fight the charges.

``We look forward to coming to court and defending this case in the proper forum,'' said Sutton's lawyer, David Lee.

No police car was sent after Nichols took the first call on Feb. 20. The boy then called again three hours later, and Sutton sent police out to discipline the child and inform the parent that the youngster was dialing 911, prosecutors said.

When police finally arrived, 46-year-old Sherrill Turner was dead.

Disciplinary action against the operators was pending and could range from suspension without pay to dismissal, police said.

 

I wonder how many lives they saved too.