A 911 Emergency Heartbreak
UPDATE AUDIO HERE
This story of a February incident is just now making the news in our state! It just broke my heart to hear. I am not sure why her tenure on the job should make her ineligible for dismissal!
An investigation is underway in Detroit after a six-year-old boy called 911 to get help for his mom, and the operator acted as if it were a joke.
Detroit NBC Affiliate WDIV reports that six-year-old Robert Turner called 911 on February 20. He thought his mother, 46-year-old Sherrill Turner, had passed out. She was later found dead.
911 tapes detail the call, where the boy tells a female operator that his mom had passed out. The operator demands to speak to an adult before sending police.
The boy eventually hung up and called back a short time later. This time, the same operator warns the boy that he could get in trouble for making a prank call to 911. The boy said police didn’t arrive until three hours later and found his mother dead.
The boy is living with family members, who are now pursuing a lawsuit.
Officials said the 911 operator will be disciplined, but because of her years of service she will not be fired.
Police continue to investigate.
April 8, 2006 - 12:08 AM on April 8th, 2006
Really tragic situation. I’d have to hear the recordings, though, to reach a valid opinion. I bet those operators get all sorts of weird calls and probably joke calls too. On the other hand, they still need to render service.
I called 911 while on the freeway once to report a dangerous situation. When I finally got through, the operator had an attitude problem. It was as though she wanted to argue with me about what I was reporting.
April 8, 2006 - 05:40 AM on April 8th, 2006
Robert, I’ll try to get the audio. I did hear it on the news last night and the little boy does speak clearly and in both phone calls, she is chastising him and even threatened to send the cops over to punish him for his actions…too bad she didn’t do it 3 hours earlier. His mom may be alive!
April 8, 2006 - 10:58 AM on April 8th, 2006
I will not say allot, but i do cry for this little guy, because now he knows how evil this world is, may his mother’s name be remember as a victim of madness.
by the way i got this news on TV, its sad,sad,sad.
April 8, 2006 - 06:04 PM on April 8th, 2006
only 3 little comments how sad and its been up all day.
where are all the left wing guys and the aztlan people? must not care. but maybe all the Left is going to the Mexican day rally for the drug dealers.
April 10, 2006 - 08:17 AM on April 10th, 2006
The operator should be fired for this:mad:
April 10, 2006 - 12:17 PM on April 10th, 2006
That woman has no business being a 911 operator. She has no business being in any position where she deals with the public. If they want to state she has too much seniority to dismiss her….fine. I’m sure they have toilets that need to be cleaned and floors to be swept…but get that ignorant, stupid, b*tch off the phones.
I’ve no doubt she just wanted to go back to reading her National Enquirer or something and didn’t want to bother having to do her job.
April 10, 2006 - 02:28 PM on April 10th, 2006
I’m guessing that she is a Liberal Democrite…
April 10, 2006 - 02:44 PM on April 10th, 2006
Honestly, I hope she’s fired and doesn’t have a job in the medical/communications field again. The little boy was only doing what his mom had taught him to do if she ever passed out. Instead of the 911 operator scolding him, she should have sent a police officer out, to be on the safe side) and if it was nothing, then the police could have talked to the boy once they got there and checked things out. I hope the family sues for all they can. Because of stupidity and/or someone having a bad day, a 6 year old now has to deal with the fact that his mother died in front of him, he now has no mother to raise him, and he may be feeling it’s his fault she’s dead. Makes no sense at all.:evil:
April 10, 2006 - 03:27 PM on April 10th, 2006
April 10, 2006 - 04:18 PM on April 10th, 2006
The family is right to sue. If the woman cannot be fired, a forced ‘retirement’ is in order or, put her on suspension without pay until the lawsuit is complete. Either way, her actions are deplorable at best and she should not be allowed to maintain her job, title, and salary just because she’s served for x number of years.
Additionally, the 911 service in Detroit needs to consider monitoring their operators, especially during a 2nd call back, to determine if the call is being handled properly and expedited immediately. It should be standard operating procedure that a child’s call for help be responded to immediately and, even if an initial call from someone (child or adult) seemed bogus, a 2nd call requires an immediate response as well.
I’m dismayed that I’m just learning of this tragedy, that a public apology has not been offered to the family, and that the family is not suing for more that $1 million; it should be $100 million! That poor child needs to be nurtured, fed, clothed and educated. By the time he reaches college age, it’ll cost almost $100,000 per year for an ivy league education. Pay him and his family what they are owed. No amount of money will replace his mother, but it will surely get him the emotional help he and his family may need and allow for the boy’s needs to be met indefinitely.
My thought and prayers are with the family, and even with the 911 operator who needs to repent and ask forgiveness for her misjudgement that ultimately led to someone’s death and rendered a little boy motherless.
April 10, 2006 - 10:15 PM on April 10th, 2006
if anybody wants the audio, just ask me.
The calls
*
First call, 5:59 p.m. Feb. 20:
Dispatcher: “”Emergency 911, what’s the problem?”
Robert: “My mom has passed out. …”
Dispatcher: “Where’s Mr. Turner at?…”
Robert: “Right here.”
Dispatcher: “Let me talk to him.”
Robert: “”She’s not gonna … she’s not gonna talk.”
Dispatcher: “OK, well I’m going to send the police to your house and find out what’s going on with you. …”
Second call, 9:02 p.m.:
Robert: “My mom has passed out. …”
Dispatcher: “Where’s the grown-ups at?”
Robert: (Inaudible)
Dispatcher: “Let me speak to her before I send the police over there.”
Robert: “She’s not gonna talk. …”
Dispatcher: “Now put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you going to be in trouble.”
Robert: “Ugh.” (Hangs up.)
April 11, 2006 - 08:13 AM on April 11th, 2006
The operator should be fired and disaplined:mad:
April 11, 2006 - 06:00 PM on April 11th, 2006
911 did the same thing to Lorraine Hayes.
It’s audio of a call made in January 2005 by Lorraine Hayes, who claimed her husband had just shot her.
“I’m shot in the head,” Hayes said in her first phone call to 911 at 9:28 p.m. “My body’s numb.”
But the operator did not seem to believe her. At one point she asked Hayes if she was a mental patient, according to the tape.
“If you got shot in the temple, you probably wouldn’t be able to make this call,” the operator said.
“I’m dying,” Hayes responded.
The operator then asked, “Would you put somebody else on the phone?”
Hayes could not convince her husband to get on the phone.
She called again about 25 minutes later after no help arrived.
“Ma’am, I’m shot in the — I’m shot twice,” Hayes said.
“OK, you said — first time you said you were shot in the temple. Where’s the other bullet?” the operator asked.
“In my chest, I think,” Hayes said.
“But you’re able to call on the phone? That’s a miracle!” the operator said.
“Ma’am, would you please come. I’m dying,” Hayes said again.
According to the tape, the operator told Hayes police and medical help were on the way. But Fieger said they never arrived.
“The only way police and EMS ever came was — Lorraine called her son in Minnesota, who then called the Detroit Police, who then responded after 10-o-clock,” Fieger said Monday.
June 7, 2006 - 06:49 PM on June 7th, 2006
[...] I posted this story and there is finally a follow up! I know this won’t bring his mother back, but at least he isn’t being ignored any longer, by those that should be helping him. Two 911 operators who authorities say wrongly assumed it was a prank when a 5-year-old boy called to report that his mother had collapsed have been charged with neglect of duty. By the time an officer arrived, the boy’s 46-year-old mother was dead. [...]