How many times have you dialed 911 in your life?

[joecool]

huh, i did it once to check that i had programmed our speed-dial correctly ... then i hung up. two minutes later there were cops at the door. they were understanding, but not real happy. boy did i feel stupid!

then, several years ago, my younger son (he was maybe 5 at the time) dialed 911 3-4 times in a row, egged on by his older (by 18 months) brother. they thought it was really funny - until the cops showed up at the door. i wasn't home at the time, but they got a VERY stern talk from the policeman, and they were both still feeling very sheepish when i got home from work. i think they learned a lesson that day ...

 

[TheGizmo]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
1st as a child, I called to make sure it would work and like some cop cars went and now that I look back at it it was funny, but then I was scared as hell.

What?

<12 yr old voice>So anyway, like where, did like the cop car go?</voice>

 

[erickj92]

I am 14 and I have only dialed 911 2 tmies in my life, once was for a car accident at the side of the road and the other was by accident....

 

[Jeeper94]

Twice outside of work. Once for a motor vehicle accident I was involved in and another time when I was young and foolish.

 

[James Bond]

About 50.

It was when I was testing VoIP software at work.

 

[DainBramaged]

5+

Several bad accidents, a really drunk driver, and a hit and run.

 

[Aquila76]

I never had to call 911 until I got married. Since then: at least 5 times in the last seven years.

I've come home to find her:

Face down on the kitchen floor covered in blood. She passed out and landed on a glass she was carrying.

On the bedroom floor, covered in blood and metal flakes. She passed out headfirst into a mirror.

Watched her trip and fall onto a (thankfully small) paring knife.

Anaphylactic shock from a medical allergy that we discovered the hard way.

Heatstroke. I don't know how she didn't get killed. She was mowing the lawn, passed out, and the lawn mower somehow dragged her around the yard a bit. I heard something hitting the apartment wall (the lawn mower), and found her.

Ends up most of the fainting was due to undiagnosed Diabetes. She's much better now that she's taking Glucophage or some such pill and monitoring her sugar levels.

 

[Bill Brasky]

A couple of times.

Reported a traffic accident, a few fires, and a lightening strike that hit the brick chimney of the house behind us. It was pretty crazy that I happened to be watching the lightening storm when their house was hit. The chimney literally exploded and threw chunks of brick everywhere.

Here is the big one:
My parents live in a fairly nice neighborhood, but somehow there is an apartment complex about 3 blocks down that constantly has residents with legal issues. It was almost midnight and I was leaving the development when I see this awful looking guy stumbling down the main road of the neighborhood. He was dressed in all black, very dirty, and had a black gym bag over his shoulder. I called the cops, and didn't stick around to see what happened. I read in the paper 2 days later the bag was full of heroin paraphernalia, assorted drugs, and a switch blade. Apparently, he had just been involved with an assault w/ weapon. I've always wondered where in the good night he was walking to.

 

[sao123]

twiced.

once someone was attempting to break in to my appartment
other time my wife had an unexpected seizure...we though at first it might have been a stroke or heart attack.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Linflas
0

 

[DainBramaged]

Originally posted by: Aquila76
I never had to call 911 until I got married. Since then: at least 5 times in the last seven years.

I've come home to find her:

Face down on the kitchen floor covered in blood. She passed out and landed on a glass she was carrying.

On the bedroom floor, covered in blood and metal flakes. She passed out headfirst into a mirror.

Watched her trip and fall onto a (thankfully small) paring knife.

Anaphylactic shock from a medical allergy that we discovered the hard way.

Heatstroke. I don't know how she didn't get killed. She was mowing the lawn, passed out, and the lawn mower somehow dragged her around the yard a bit. I heard something hitting the apartment wall (the lawn mower), and found her.

Ends up most of the fainting was due to undiagnosed Diabetes. She's much better now that she's taking Glucophage or some such pill and monitoring her sugar levels.

Jesus...

Glad she has it somewhat under control.

 

[Safeway]

Too many times to remember. If I see a drunk driver, I call 911 -- I've tailed a few of the drunks (keeping a safe distance, I assure you), and have witnessed the police force them off the road.

Also, I call the police when I see homeless people get a bit too excited. At one point, this guy threatened to hurt me after I refused to give him money. A homeless guy also touched my girlfriend, and charges were filed.

When I tell people about my experiences with 911, some say that I am wasting the police officers' time. Several of my relatives are on the force, and I assure you, it is not a waste of their time. Homeless people are often wanted for other crimes. Drunk drivers are often repeat offenders. I can't help but to think that if I don't call a drunk driver in, that they will end up killing an entire family once I exit the highway. Or that an overly forceful homeless guy will grope a female student.

 

[DainBramaged]

The way I see it, if you are a sh!tty enough drunk driver for me to notice it, you deserve to get arrested.

 

[preCRT]

A couple of times & it seemed it took them forever to show up. The first was when my dad was having a massive heart attack [he's ok now] & once when I had a terrible asthma attack & passed out between my calling & them arriving.

It can be scary out the burbs & boonies where there is only one ambulance per town & the nearest ER is at least 15-20 minutes away.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Many many dozens of times, perhaps even a hundred. Many were job related, but I've also had more than my share of fire/police/medical emergencies. Most were police actually, but I've called at least a few times for all of them.

 

[kedlav]

Five or six. First time was an honest accident as a kid (grandma's number started 941 and I meatthumbed the 1), the rest were calling in accidents.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Aquila76
I never had to call 911 until I got married. Since then: at least 5 times in the last seven years.

I've come home to find her:

Face down on the kitchen floor covered in blood. She passed out and landed on a glass she was carrying.

On the bedroom floor, covered in blood and metal flakes. She passed out headfirst into a mirror.

Watched her trip and fall onto a (thankfully small) paring knife.

Anaphylactic shock from a medical allergy that we discovered the hard way.

Heatstroke. I don't know how she didn't get killed. She was mowing the lawn, passed out, and the lawn mower somehow dragged her around the yard a bit. I heard something hitting the apartment wall (the lawn mower), and found her.

Ends up most of the fainting was due to undiagnosed Diabetes. She's much better now that she's taking Glucophage or some such pill and monitoring her sugar levels.

uh yeah...wonder what the first warning was? passing out, breath smells like ethanol all the time, hasn't taken a drink..what is going on here? bah, she'll get over it

yikes! gl with that. lucky she and you have made it this far

:beer:

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Zero. But then, the alarm number in the Netherlands is 112 and not 911. And 112 I have dialed once, when a friend with SLE suddenly had symptoms which did not fit SLE.

 

[XprincoX]

0

 

[eunsang]

none. hopefully never. certified EMT FTW!

 

[nageov3t]

three times.

once on accident (the first time I ever setup dial-up, I entered the phone number in as 911-XXXX instead of 991-XXXX... this was back in the day before the area code was required for local calls)
once when my car got towed (I initially thought it was stolen and didn't know who else to call... they yelled at me and told me to call the non-emergency line, as if I had a phone book with me in the middle of downtown Newark at 12 am)
and once when I got into my car accident

 

[frank84]

twice,
once for report of a car accident on freeway

another one for burning fire in parking lot

 

[KurskKnyaz]

a bunch of times between the ages of 8-11 on my abusive dad. It was pretty good that they taught us that in school considering i was the only one in my family who spoke English.

 

[alimoalem]

twice, intentionally. one time (back in the days of the pager) my mom told me to page my dad's pager with 911 at the end so he knows it's urgent, but somehow the cops got called. the other time was when i went biking in SF with some friends and we were going down twin peaks (highest point in frisco). the guy in the back decided to come full blast past all of us at literally 40+ MPH. the road curved at the end, there was a red light, and his brakes were not amazing. basically he ended up stopping his body from crashing into a benz by sticking his arm out, breaking it in the process.

cops have been over 5-10 times though. when the receiver of the house phone is left off-hook after a minute, it automatically calls. one time the cops came stating "dispatch said two grown men (my brother and me) were arguing when the call was received." needless to say, it was pointless asking them to take their shoes off before entering

 

[Saulbadguy]

I pranked it a bunch as a teenager. I wouldn't recommend anyone doing that.