When was the last time you dialed 911 for emergency?1

[blackdogdeek]

about 3 or 4 years ago when our youngest was about 1 or 2 years old. she had hurt herself and started crying but ended up not breathing during a particularly extended wail and then she flat passed out and went limp. my wife handed her to me and dialed 911. while i was holding her remembering how to administer artificial respiration to a small child she immediately came to albeit a little confused.

literally within 60 seconds the police arrived at our front door. the paramedics arrived within 3 minutes. luckily, the girl didn't need to be taken to the hospital.

later, after a visit to the pediatrician and some googling we found out that the condition is not entirely uncommon and usually goes away by kindergarten age.

 

[Wyndru]

I've never had to dial 911 thankfully.

 

[IcePickFreak]

A few years ago when I was on my way home from work is the only time I had to use 911. Was coming home on the back "country" roads (was about 30 miles to work) and at one part there was a few stop signs and a gas station. Coming up on the gas station, there was a minivan that was traveling in the same direction as me, but stopped right in front of the gas station. Just as I noticed it was stopped and something wasn't right, the lady gets out of the minivan and starts running down the road towards me, and at the same time I notice some flames under the van. See was panicking and at first I thought someone was still in the van, but then realized she was just worried about her purse still being in the van - yeah I'm not running in there for your purse, lady.

Because of that and the rather close proximity to the gas station, I stayed a ways back and called 911. Within a minute the fuel lines on the van bursted and the thing went up in flames rather quickly. Still waiting for the fire dept. and police, I turned my car around and went a bit further away. Fire dept. & police show up, me and a few other witnesses hang around and the cops come around and take statements etc.

Cop gets to me and I tell him I was the person who initially called 911 as I seen the flames start as the lady running from the van. He starts questioning me why she was stopped, did she hit anyone etc? I repeat what I saw, she was stopped, I see flames, she runs from van, no other cars were ever in front of her from what I saw (there was another stop sign about 50 yards up the road in front of her as well). Then he starts asking me if I hit her... wtf? I had a 2000 grand prix at the time that had a slight crack in the bumper down by one of the fog lights from before I owned it. I asked if it made any sense that I would call 911 and hang around for the police if that was the case. He kept pushing it like he was trying to crack a confession out of someone. I finally told him he had my info if he needed anything else, I had stuff to do, good-bye. As I was pulling off the shoulder in my car he made over obvious actions in my rear-view that he was writing down my license plate number... umm idiot you have my name, address, phone # etc.

Haven't used 911 since. I did see someone lose it in front of me on an off-ramp awhile after the above incident and go off the road down into the weeds - I kept driving. There were two other vehicles pulling over so they can deal with that BS.

 

[skyking]

A couple of years ago, I witnessed a car wreck on I-5 with the car up on the separator, almost on its top, smoking. I jumped up and helped the guy out and smelled booze

A couple of weeks ago. Some douchenozzle had a dog in their car with the windows closed when it was 105 outside.

back when we had our Rottweiler, my wife and I were getting a soda at a fruit stand/store and found these people freaking out, looking at our poor dog in the car, looking hot. He was only worried that we had left him there in the relative comfort of the air conditioned car. I guess they did not notice the engine was running

 

[D1gger]

I've punched 911 twice.

1st time was in the way back when I was a gas jockey in university. A guy on a motorcycle came in for fuel and was so drunk he could barely stand beside his bike to put the fuel in the tank. I tried to talk him out of riding away, and invited him into the station for a coffee, but he was insistent that he was fine and wanted to leave. I stalled him with a free coke and called 911. I felt like a jerk, but I was seriously concerned he was kill himself as he was heading out on a two hour highway ride in the middle of the night. Cops came and took him away in the back of their car. I stored the bike in our shop and the next time I came to work found out the cops let him out of the tank the next morning, with no ticket, no fine and he came back and got his bike.

Second time was a couple of years ago, when I saw an old man in his housecoat wandering around in the middle of the road yelling at cars and shaking his fist. I was pretty sure it was either Waggy or BoomerD, but it was clear that the man was off his meds, so I called the cops to come and get him and take him back to the home.

 

[Demo24]

A few years ago. Passed by a druggy passed out in a crosswalk (on the sidewalk) with his pants down and just a t-shirt (winter time). Talked to a cousin later that day who happened to be at the hospital then and confirmed the OD.

 

[TridenT]

Once when my car got broken into. That was a few months ago. I didn't know the number for the non-emergency stuff and I didn't feel like looking it up. Called them and asked them what I should do. Got the info and was basically told that since it wasn't over $1,500 in damage I was SOL.

 

[blotto]

In April, I went to the ER with severe back pain they told it was a five hour wait so I went home, that was around 3pm. By 2am it was so bad that I couldn't breathe, I called 911 and took an ambulance to the hospital. It turns out my back pain was actually a collapsed lung due to pneumonia and a plureal effusion (fluid build up between the lungs and the chest wall). I spent over three weeks in the hospital and had a few nurses tell me I was pretty lucky to have made it

 

[KeithTalent]

Never on purpose as far as I can recall. :hmm:

KT

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Not that I'm trying to be a dick, but

I don't think it was EMT instincts that told you to call 911, but rather common sense

And I'm sure if it was anyone else's mom they would have taken their time and strolled over.

In my experience (I was an EMT for several years), people tend to freak out when their
parents are helpless on the floor. One thing that made me a good EMT is that I never, ever get nervous under pressure. Someone could be dying right in front of me and I can completely detach myself from the emotional aspect of the situation, and can act in the manner necessary.

Also, any first responder will tell you that one of the first things you do when you arrive on the scene is to assess the severity of the situation and determine what and how quickly action is required. That is what I meant by "EMT instincts." I walked in the door, and within 5 seconds I knew that I could not help my mother with the resources available to me in her home, and that I needed an ambulance to get her to the hospital. If I had arrived 2-3 hours earlier, I would have driven her to the hospital because her condition would not have been so serious. And if I had an IV kit, I would have hooked her up right then and there.

I'm not trying to pump my own tires or say that I did anything heroic. I simply acted in accordance with how I was trained, not based on an emotional reaction to a situation.

 

[shortylickens]

When I couldnt find the regular number for the police station.
Felt guilty about it, but told the dispatcher I had no choice. She was cool. And gave me the number after dealing with me.

 

[Lash444]

Called on a driver, who i assume was drunk, for ramming his car into the curb repeatedly as he drove down the road.

Get the cell phone bill, and I was charged for the 911 service, 2 times. Once from the county as a service, and I cant remember who else, but it sure seemed like double dipping. It was like $3.50.

I will pass on making phone calls for things like that in the future. Unless the person is running over pedestrians I will let them go. If the community wants things like this to be reported, you shouldn't go charging the do-gooders $3.50 to report a drunk driver.

 

[Leros]

My car broke down on an empty highway at 11pm at night in 20F weather. The emergency motorists hotline wasn't picking up so I called 911.

 

[lupi]

about a dozen times. once when the power transformer on the house caddy-corner to me blew. once when a cop was driving the wrong way down the road (god I loved that one) and the rest for other miscellaneous traffic related items.

 

[DayLaPaul]

Called on a driver, who i assume was drunk, for ramming his car into the curb repeatedly as he drove down the road.

Get the cell phone bill, and I was charged for the 911 service, 2 times. Once from the county as a service, and I cant remember who else, but it sure seemed like double dipping. It was like $3.50.

I will pass on making phone calls for things like that in the future. Unless the person is running over pedestrians I will let them go. If the community wants things like this to be reported, you shouldn't go charging the do-gooders $3.50 to report a drunk driver.

That's interesting. I always thought 911 calls were free. Even phones without service are supposed to be able to dial 911. Aren't we already paying a 911 tax on our phone bills?

 

[Red Dawn]

I have never dialed 911 in my life. :\

I guess that's a good thing.

The other day when I kicked my punk assed 20 year old nephew out of my parents house. Didn't feel like bruising up my knuckles on his face.

 

[Rhoxed]

In 2004, my mother had cardiac arrest in her sleep. Woke up to my father screaming and I called 911

R.I.P Mom - Dec. 27th 2004

 

[Powermoloch]

In my current job, previous job and my birthday party recently. Probably 15+ in the past few years

 

[bhanson]

Called on a driver, who i assume was drunk, for ramming his car into the curb repeatedly as he drove down the road.

Get the cell phone bill, and I was charged for the 911 service, 2 times. Once from the county as a service, and I cant remember who else, but it sure seemed like double dipping. It was like $3.50.

I will pass on making phone calls for things like that in the future. Unless the person is running over pedestrians I will let them go. If the community wants things like this to be reported, you shouldn't go charging the do-gooders $3.50 to report a drunk driver.

Wtf. That is an outrage. If that happened to me I would be lobbying to get that fixed. At the very least I'd write a strongly worded letter to everyone I could think of and post it on the Internet.

Drunk driving is serious. I'd urge you to continue to report drunk drivers and not sacrifice safety on account of some ridiculous fee.

 

[compuwiz1]

A couple years ago when a rogue Pit Bull chased my wife home from her walk. She just barely made in the front door, then it went on to bite a neighbor's kid, just as the mom pulled him into the house.

 

[ussfletcher]

After reading the responses in this thread I am glad I have not faced the situations that others have.
That said, I did call once, about 2 years ago. I was dropping my girlfriend at the time off at her house and one of her neighbors (or so I found out later) was afraid I was casing the joint (or something) and pulled his truck in front of my car as I was attempting to leave the subdivision. It was late and I didn't really feel like dealing with it so I squeeked past him and drove home... with him tailgating/following me the entire way and totally freaking me out (flashing his lights, pulling beside me on a 2 lane road) etc... after about 5 miles of dealing with this, I called 911 and told them what was up. About a mile later I got pulled over, as it seems he called 911 on me first. That was an interesting interaction with the police.

 

[KidNiki1]

just don't do this:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-n...d-tacos-at-drive-through-calls-911-ar-257997/

i have never had to call them. i am lucky.

 

[Josh123]

I had to call 911 a couple weeks ago for the first time in my life. I was heading home from the office and was behind some cars and for some reason the lead truck kept stopping then going over and over again. I was guessing he was running out of gas so most of the people behind him got in the other lane and passed him but I stayed behind him. A few seconds later the guy drifts into the left lane then punches it into oncoming traffic. Boom! He hit this minivan coming the other way and I'm like WTF! I come to a stop since the wreck is in the middle of the road and called 911.

Anyway I stayed a while to talked to some of the other people that saw the wreck and an officer. One person said the driver of the truck got out and didn't know where or who he was so I'm guessing he had a stroke.

 

[mcvickj]

December 27, 2005 When I came home to find the body of my roommate. Still think of him often and if there were signs I missed that could have stopped him from taking his own life.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Many years ago, the year after I graduated college, I dialed 9-1-1 on accident from our house's land line. The short explanation of that was that I was accustomed to having to dial a 9 to get an outside line in the office where I worked, and then 1 to begin a long-distance call. At my house, I picked up and started dialing, hit 9 then 1, and when I hesitated after realizing I didn't need to dial the 9, I accidentally pressed the 1 second time.

I hung up right away and dialed the correct number. I don't think our land line had call waiting at that time, so when the dispatcher tried to call back and got a busy signal, they dispatched an officer to our house.

I was still living with all my college buddies, so when the officer insisted he inspect the premises as a matter of procedure, I was thankful that my buddy had the presence of mind to sit on the bag of weed that was sitting on top of our mini-fridge as the officer walked in. I damn near got us busted for being a moron.