Has anyone else called 911?

[besserheimerphat]

I've only called it twice (once on accident trying to dial 511). I was driving on Mortensen by Elwood and saw Jamal Tinsley hit a street light in the median on a snowy night. I didn't know it was him, but I saw the car drive off and reported the light, then there was an article about it in the paper the next day. He hadn't been drinking, just lost control in the crappy weather.

I had to tell someone else to call 911 when the old priest from St. Thomas got hit by a car right in front of us. Thankfully (for me at least) he was conscious and didn't require CPR or anything so I just tried to keep him calm until the first responders got there.

I witnessed another car accident on East Main in Marshalltown, but by the time I had pulled over and checked to see if people were okay there were two others on their phones calling it in.

 

[Cy4Patriots]

Wow. You're an idiot.

And your story sounds like an extreme exaggeration.

I would hope that your roommate got 15 or so years for attempted murder right?

 

[3TrueFans]

Wow. You're an idiot.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

I'm calling the cops on you, Truefan

 

[cloneswereall]

And your story sounds like an extreme exaggeration.

I would hope that your roommate got 15 or so years for attempted murder right?

I have no idea why I should prove my story to you, since it happened 5 years ago. Also, you're an idiot.

 

[everyyard]

so, did you at least get out of your car and see if they were okay??? I mean, you complaining about 3 minutes waiting for 911 to answer is nothing compared to the 20+ minutes it will take EMS to get there plus however long it had already been.

 

[wartknight]

Was up on HWY 20 a couple years ago and called in a very old lady that I witnessed run 3 different cars on to the shoulder. Dispatcher said I was the 4th person to call her in. Go figure.

Made a few calls for random junk in the middle of interstate that people are swerving around.

 

[DoOrDie]

I have called the paramedics once - I worked at Lied, and a guy had a seizure. He was okay and didn't end up going with them to the hospital.

I rolled my car once on I35, and two people stopped to help me out. The first guy called the cops. The other guy just wanted to make sure I was okay (and I was totally fine). It was awesome that they stopped because the roads were terrible and none of us should have been driving, and I sent them on their way to keep them from getting hit by anyone else. I didn't need medical help (not a scratch on me, but the whiplash hurt like hell for a few days), but I appreciated that the cop got there quickly and that he also called a tow truck.

Always call. It's much better to call when it's not needed than the alternative.

 

[HuddleUp]

so, did you at least get out of your car and see if they were okay??? I mean, you complaining about 3 minutes waiting for 911 to answer is nothing compared to the 20+ minutes it will take EMS to get there plus however long it had already been.

No we didn't...which I've explained. There is nothing either of us could have done medically, if that was needed. This is a busy interstate with 65mph speed limits. It would have taken at least five minutes or longer to get to the next intersection, turn around and head down the other direction, and then turn around again at the next nearest intersection. There are multiple lights at each of these off ramps and intersections.

This wasn't in the middle of nowhere. I can drive from that area to downtown KC in less than 20 minutes. There is no way it would take EMS that long to get there. It was right down the road from one of the largest interstate exchanges and busiest commercial areas in KC. I would guess they had personnel on site within minutes of when we called that actually know what they're doing.

And another thing, which is what I thought of at the time... say that's your wife calling 911 while someone is breaking into your house. She calls and gets a recording and put on hold for three minutes. That's why I guess you could say I'm "complaining".

 

[CarolinaCy]

Have called twice, once by accident from work and once when our oldest daughter had a seizure in the middle of the night when she was 1. Both times I got through right away, and in the case of our daughter, the fire dept showed up in a few minutes with paramedics about a minute behind.

 

[Klonz]

Problem is that too many people call 911 when there is no emergency - just reporting stupid stuff, thus boggling up the lines. Plus, I have called when witnessing an accident on the interstate and there like 10+ others all calling in with the same report - thus delaying things.

IMHO - they do a pretty darn good job - all things considered.

Funny tid bit - a friend of mine from high school is a 911 operator in Colorado and she says there is an abundance of accidental calls to 911 while people are engaged in... "extra curricular activity".

Go Clones - take down Baylor!

 

[Ry4Cy]

And another thing, which is what I thought of at the time... say that's your wife calling 911 while someone is breaking into your house. She calls and gets a recording and put on hold for three minutes. That's why I guess you could say I'm "complaining".

Then call 3 minutes before they break in...duh!

 

[cstrunk]

Shawty fireburnin' on the dance floor. Waaooooaaaoohhh

 

[HuddleUp]

Problem is that too many people call 911 when there is no emergency - just reporting stupid stuff, thus boggling up the lines. Plus, I have called when witnessing an accident on the interstate and there like 10+ others all calling in with the same report - thus delaying things.

IMHO - they do a pretty darn good job - all things considered.

Funny tid bit - a friend of mine from high school is a 911 operator in Colorado and she says there is an abundance of accidental calls to 911 while people are engaged in... "extra curricular activity".

Go Clones - take down Baylor!

I'm almost sure this is what happened. Can't they tell by your physical location where you're calling from? They probably had a pretty good idea why she was calling if that's the case.

 

[Cy4Patriots]

I have no idea why I should prove my story to you, since it happened 5 years ago. Also, you're an idiot.

Very believable.

 

[Pitt_Clone]

I've called it once, but I'm not sure if it counts. After not driving my car for around 4 days I found that it had been broken into, but nothing was stolen except the change in my cup holders. Since it could have happened anytime in the last four days and there was nothing really urgent about it, I figured I would just call the local police number and report it rather than use 911. It didn't really feel like an emergency, but after telling them what happened, the woman I was talking to told me to hang up and call 911 to report it. It seemed ridiculous for me to tie up the emergency lines with something like that, but I did it anyway. Is that normal in most cities? I've wondered that for a while but never looked into it.