Mom Dies After Boy's 911 Call Considered Prank

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A 6-year-old boy's 911 call for help was thought to be a prank, but the call was real and the boy's mother died, according to WDIV-TV in Detroit.



Robert Turner called 911 to get help for his mother, Sherel Turner, 46, whom he found lying unconscious on the kitchen floor of their Detroit apartment in February, the station reported.



"Then I had felt her tummy. She wasn't breathing. Then I had called 911," said Robert. "I told them to send an emergency truck right now."


The rest of the story is here:
http://www.wjactv.com/family/8529743/detail.html
 
OMG :eek: :( :( They say she is a very good operator and yet she ignored this little boys call.. I understand it's probably a hard job to do to determine which calls are real and which aren't.. Sad... cute little boy and a pretty mama.. :(
 
They played the tape of the call on our local news. It was 3 hours between calls, 3 hours that the little boy sat there waiting for someone to come save his momma. The operator was such a cold b*tch, telling him she was going to send the police to arrest him for making prank phone calls. As far as I'm concerned this "good" operator is a murderer. That mom's life could have been saved.

At the end of the segment the little boy said, "I just want my mom." It was heartwrenching.

EDIT: I just read the article and see that they didn't mention that the boy called back 3 hours later and reached the same operator who once again threatened to get him into trouble. They also didn't mention that the mom probably would have lived if help had arrived on time.
 
Mabel said:
They played the tape of the call on our local news. It was 3 hours between calls, 3 hours that the little boy sat there waiting for someone to come save his momma. The operator was such a cold b*tch, telling him she was going to send the police to arrest him for making prank phone calls. As far as I'm concerned this "good" operator is a murderer. That mom's life could have been saved.

At the end of the segment the little boy said, "I just want my mom." It was heartwrenching.

EDIT: I just read the article and see that they didn't mention that the boy called back 3 hours later and reached the same operator who once again threatened to get him into trouble. They also didn't mention that the mom probably would have lived if help had arrived on time.
Click to expand...

Oh Mabel, how awful. I hope the operator is immediately fired. You know they'll be a HUGE lawsuit over her mistake. That's something she will have to live with the rest of her life.

Wonder if there are any charges that can be brought against her?
 
What I don't understand is I thought standard practice was to at least send the police .. Like when 911 recieves a hang up..


Not only does this women need to be fired but IMO that family has one hell of a wrongful death suit. Sadly most places do not prosecute city or state employees if their direliction of duty results in death.
Thast little boy did exactly as all parents and teachers teach him .. which is in an emergency call 911.
 
If you view the survey on that news link..

94% think she should be fired, I bet the 6% that said NO are her family or friends.
 
Amraann said:
94% think she should be fired, I bet the 6% that said NO are her family or friends.
Click to expand...

I bet the 6% is her sitting at her computer voting. I would think (and hope) her family or friends would horrified at her behavior.
 
Not only should the *itch be fired, but she should have to pay part (as much as she can afford and still live in a cardboard box and eat table scraps) of the damages that this family will definitely win, from her own pocket. God be with that sweet child and his family. He will grow up distrusting emergency services. 100% of OTHER 911 operators would have sent at least the police. That poor child and his poor mother, who looked so sweet.
 
Mabel said:
They played the tape of the call on our local news. It was 3 hours between calls, 3 hours that the little boy sat there waiting for someone to come save his momma. The operator was such a cold b*tch, telling him she was going to send the police to arrest him for making prank phone calls. As far as I'm concerned this "good" operator is a murderer. That mom's life could have been saved.
Click to expand...
Wow, I just read this story today and was horrified. I didn't see, though, that he called back. How awful! Did it say anywhere what his mom died of? I wonder who the little boy is staying with. He looks so sweet and I can't imagine the trauma that he feels and the total distrust that he will have for the 911 system. :mad:


Edited to add:

I just found another article that says she suffered from a heart condition and had trained her son to call 911 if she ever fell ill:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060407/NEWS11/60407006

And another one that talks about him calling back:

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4739612&nav=menu44_2
 
I know for a fact in my city that the police automatically go even if it is a 911 hangup...I know because a few years ago when my youngest was about 4, she accidentally hit 911 on speed dial and hung up almost immediately...I didn't realize she had the phone, but within a few minutes I had two young cops at my door doing a welfare check. I was mortified beyond belief but they were extraordinarily kind, and were very sweet to my daughter, who was scared about what she'd done on accident. I wish so much this had happened in this case...I wonder if the police were supposed to be notified at the very least and this woman didn't follow protocol??? Unfeeling hag.
 
I used to live in a suburb just outside of Detroit and picked up a couple of their precincts on my police scanner. It was unbelievable, constant over-lapping calls about stabbings, shootings, robberies in progress....I don't know how they could possibly have enough personnel or equipment to keep up with it.
 
"because of her years of service, she will not be fired"

Just shows how children in society are treated. He does what he is told and those who should help ignore and yell at him and now he will probably feel like its his fault his mother died. But hey!! She isn't getting fired.

What kind of crap is that? Well I hope the police who investigate disagree and the DA files charges.

Over the "years of service" how often do you think she did this? I doubt this is the first time. Maybe those cases did not result in death.
I could give a rats hiney if she had recieved 20 prank calls that day.. Then send the police, those that really are pranks can be fined. There is nothing I read of that call that makes me think she should have assumed it was a prank.
I don;t believe they get that many pranks anyhow because most Police have an autotrace system. The moment the phone rings and is picked up the address is shown.

What the article doesn't say and what should completely be derived from the calls is when she finally did send the police I bet she said something to the effect of it being a prank and wanting to scare the child. Nothing about a true emergency.
 
englishleigh said:
I know for a fact in my city that the police automatically go even if it is a 911 hangup...I know because a few years ago when my youngest was about 4, she accidentally hit 911 on speed dial and hung up almost immediately...I didn't realize she had the phone, but within a few minutes I had two young cops at my door doing a welfare check. I was mortified beyond belief but they were extraordinarily kind, and were very sweet to my daughter, who was scared about what she'd done on accident. I wish so much this had happened in this case...I wonder if the police were supposed to be notified at the very least and this woman didn't follow protocol??? Unfeeling hag.
Click to expand...
been there done that--- the police even called the house before they came out, said they had received a call then hung up-- i told them everything was fine -( didnt know my 6 year old daughter was upstairs afraid to tell me she did it!)
about 15 minuutes later my doorbell rang- 2 policemen...
 
Mabel said:
I used to live in a suburb just outside of Detroit and picked up a couple of their precincts on my police scanner. It was unbelievable, constant over-lapping calls about stabbings, shootings, robberies in progress....I don't know how they could possibly have enough personnel or equipment to keep up with it.
Click to expand...
Mabel, like most things the dispatchers have to prioritize. A break in or a car theft will have to wait while life and death emergencies are handled.
And in reality she did not need the police she needed paramedics.
I don't think she spent enough time on the phone to even establish if it was a prank she immediatly assumed it was..
She did not ask his name.. She did not ask his mothers name or if she had been sick..
NO effort was made on her part except to yell at him and assume it was a prank. Absolutely no compassion for that child..

I truly think whatever else happens to her that she should have to apologize to him face to face and tell him it was her fault for not believing him.
Not that it will happen...
 
Amraann said:
Mabel, like most things the dispatchers have to prioritize. A break in or a car theft will have to wait while life and death emergencies are handled.
And in reality she did not need the police she needed paramedics.
I don't think she spent enough time on the phone to even establish if it was a prank she immediatly assumed it was..
She did not ask his name.. She did not ask his mothers name or if she had been sick..
NO effort was made on her part except to yell at him and assume it was a prank. Absolutely no compassion for that child..

I truly think whatever else happens to her that she should have to apologize to him face to face and tell him it was her fault for not believing him.
Not that it will happen...
Click to expand...

Oh, I agree. There was no excuse for her actions. But I can understand why they would try to weed out the phony calls whenever possible.
 
I'm very suprised she is not fired. Dispatchers are taught, day in and day out, CYA CYA CYA. You can personally be sued. You can get the County sued. etc... And the involved people will sue in this case. She should be held personally responsible. A 6 year old doesn't sound like a teenager. She should have known better.


But- someone else mentioned that they didn't think 911 gets many pranks. They do. I worked as a dispatcher, and pranks come every single day. Just wanted to clarify that.
 
mssheila,

I did not say they don't get pranks... I said I doubt they get a ton of them.
Even 5 years ago I would venture they had a lot more.
But technology has evolved and even the local pizza restaraunt has the system that shows the address of the caller.


Yes Mabel I agree it is the dispatchers job to weed out the pranks but in this case she did not even ask his name or why his mom passed out ... NOTHING..
She went right to threats..
 
Mabel said:
They played the tape of the call on our local news. It was 3 hours between calls, 3 hours that the little boy sat there waiting for someone to come save his momma. The operator was such a cold b*tch, telling him she was going to send the police to arrest him for making prank phone calls. As far as I'm concerned this "good" operator is a murderer. That mom's life could have been saved.

At the end of the segment the little boy said, "I just want my mom." It was heartwrenching.

EDIT: I just read the article and see that they didn't mention that the boy called back 3 hours later and reached the same operator who once again threatened to get him into trouble. They also didn't mention that the mom probably would have lived if help had arrived on time.
Click to expand...
Your are so right. I don't care how many pranks they get. There's absolutely no excuse for this. How dare this operator threaten this poor terrified little boy. This just makes me sick to my stomach.

Hell yeah, she should be fired! She deserves much more than that. She should also be charged with manslaughter.
 
I had went to the store one day and my 2 yr old was at home with his dad. When I came home about an hour later..there was a message on my answering machine that said "this is the 911 dispatcher we received a hang up call from this number just making sure everything is ok" So I called them back and told them everything was ok...

My son was playing with the phone and managed to dial 911...It was odd that the dispatcher just called back to make sure everything was ok..not sure if he could hear my son.... I don't know. I was kinda freaked thinkin if there were to be an emergency and no one showed.
 
what really concerns me is the politics going on behind this...

Lets say the police investigate but you know it must be looming behind the scenes that these dispatchers are the ones that dispatch help to he police as well...
 
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