Have you ever had to call 911 and what was it for?

Car accidents, freeway lane blockages from ladders, street fights, the gang gun fight next door…
my daughter calls me a cop caller

Other than mental health crisises, I heard a roll-over at night out my window.

@filmfann keep it up! too many people leave it to someone else.

@seawwulf575 I used to live on the corner of a very busy street. I now live in a quiet mountain town, so I have far fewer opportunities.

Yes, several times. Two involved neighbors who experienced a Heart Attack. I called 911 as I started CPR on them. Both elderly, both survived, one passed several weeks later.
Once for an ex who experienced a grand mall seizure. Once on the same said ex related to domestic violence.
A few times as I witnessed car accidents.
Several times inadvertently by my iPhone in my pocket as I was cutting grass.

Several times. Once to ask for a welfare check for my neighbor. Didn’t know hee address, just that it was on the corner of 15th.
Found myself in a position of having to give N, S ,E and W directions. Not good! I struggled so she asked if it was toward Rubbermaid or toward downtown. Then asked if it was toward Walmart or Island Park. That I was able to do and she determined the house was on the…..south east corner of 15th

I’ve called on reckless drivers too.

Twice

Once, came by an accident about 30 seconds after it happened.

Second, drunk driver fell asleep at a stop sign.

@filmfann Sounds nice. But I learned that living in the country and in small towns brings its own share of crime. Living in a decent sized suburb I never had an issue. I moved to a small town and had a lovers triangle that went sour with one guy trying to gun down the other right on main street, had several instances of gun shots at 2–3 in the morning, lots of drugs…it was a mess. Living in the real country had the periodic dead body that was dropped off, hunters that didn’t care that they were shooting towards your house, and LOTS of abandoned dogs.

A few times for accidents that I was involved in (twice I was rear ended while stopped at a red light), once an oil truck backed into me while we were stopped at a red light, twice hit a deer. A few times for accidents that I’ve witnessed or cars broken down on the highway that might need assistance or people walking on the highway or other stuff like that.

Once about 20 years ago, a friend was calling from my landline phone, and instead of dialing 9–1-4 he dialed 9–1-1 and hung up when he realized he dialed incorrectly. The police showed up about a half hour later. I’d just come out of the shower, not a clue as to why the cop was knocking on my door. I told him the truth and said do you want to talk to the person that dialed the phone? and the cop said no, it was fine, and he left.

Once I put lambchops in the oven on “broil” and I had the pan up too high, so the sputtering fat hit the heating element and caught on fire. I called 911 and the guy told me to get every living thing out of the house, so I threw the cats outside and then I shut the oven off, and the fire went out. The house was smoky. I called 911 back and told him the fire was out, and he said the Fire Dept had to come anyway. I tidied up and the state trooper showed up, and the fire truck came with the guys in their fire gear. There was a guy who said he had to record the brand of the stove, for statistics. I told him it’s not the stove’s fault, it’s my fault but he said he had to do it anyway. It was a pleasant visit with the firemen and the trooper.

Several times: twice for the 20 y.o. female in the apartment upstairs who was getting beaten by her boyfriend. He tried choking her with his fist down her throat. The cops called for an ambulance, then arrested him. He’s in prison for a very long time for attempted murder. When she got to the hospital her pulse was around 30. Oh, and she was about 3 months pregnant and he was punching her in the stomach because he didn’t think it was his.

Another time I was on a 5 or 6 lane interstate and in about lane 3 I saw a deer that had been hit. I think its back was broken because it just kept flopping around as if trying to stand. I begged them to hurry; I’m sure it was in pain and terrified. It haunted me for a while; really horrible to see, especially knowing another car could hit it again at any time.

Once we saw a car driving REALLY erratically. As the passenger I got to call 911 and give them a blow by blow of what the car was doing.
“She’s over the curb!! She almost hit that building! Oh God.
She’s gonna hit that parked truck!!” And she did. That stopped her.
Rick got out and went to take her keys.
Just then about 10 other people showed up.
Crazy town.

Oh yeah. Had to call 911 when my son got stuck in a mailbox.

I don’t remember having to, but I have, to report things of immediate concern, such as large fires, or very dangerous drivers.

Yes. About two years ago we were woken up in the middle of the night by a drunk guy screaming and trying to kick our front door in. I immediately called 911 and at the same time I pressed the button on my car key to start the car alarm. The alarm scared him away after a minute of going off and right before the cops showed up.

Apparently it was a drunk college student who was lost and trying to find his apartment. The cops had a few similar calls from the neighborhood that night.

I think only 3 times, one time I drove up on an accident scene and a guy was ejected from his motorcycle in the middle of the road, the other time was a pretty significant traffic accident I witnessed that involved gas leaking from the engine and I had concerns for the driver but also the potential fire hazard. The last time I was walking my dog in a park at dusk within the city limits and we heard shots being fired close by. I wanted to stay on the line with 911 until we were able to safely get back to our cars, but she didn’t seem interested in that. It pissed me off to be honest. We met up with another guy in the park and all left together.

I do call the non-emergency number several times per year. Usually to report gunshots, but other times to report dangerous debris on the highway that could cause an accident or other similar things.

@jonsblond How quick-thinking of you to press your car’s alarm! It wouldn’t have occurred to me.

I wanted to call 911 on my father, but that was before I had a cell phone. I was driving behind him on the freeway, and he had fallen asleep at the wheel. it was terrifying.

Since I didn’t have a cell phone, I did the next best thing. I put on my blinkers and rolled down my window, honked my horn a lot, stuck my arm out and waved it hard. Eventually he woke up and we made it home.

I’ve called multiple times for something happening on the road or near the road. Most of the time someone else has called already, but not all of them.

Once in my life I called because I thought there might be an intruder.

I’ve called the police (not 911) many times when I needed their assistance, but it wasn’t an emergency.

@snowberry I did call the police on a driver on the freeway before the age of cell phones. I got off on an exit where there was a pay phone (remember those?). I called 911 and they asked what my emergency was. I told them my name, where I was, and that there was a guy driving on the freeway that was all over the road from the median to the shoulder who was varying speed between 45 and 85 mph. The cop actually asked me what I wanted them to do. I said I thought it would be a good idea if they got him off the road before he killed someone. He then said that the direction and speed he was going would put them out of their jurisdiction so there was really nothing they could do. He said it would be part of the Highway Patrol’s issue and that he could give me the number to their barracks if I liked. I told him to never mind. We could just wait for a vehicular death and then I would be more than happy to talk to the press about this conversation. I hung up disgusted. Thankfully I never heard of any major accident on that highway on that day.

@smudges I once read that you should keep your car keys by your bed and use the alarm if there’s an intruder. I never thought I’d actually have to do it!

I think we called 911 when my father passed. It wasn’t an emergency, he was just entering hospice care and they sort of abruptly rushed him home (we think because they knew the end was near at wanted to give us a chance to see him one last time). But we were told to call 911 by the medical line we called when we thought he’d stopped breathing.

The only other time I’m 100% sure of is when I was commuting to work and the car in front of me on a gentle curve began drifting towards the separator wall. I slowed down so I wasn’t involved in the wreck but it then went into an overcorrect death spiral as the driver yanked too hard to the right, then too hard to the left and spun into the wall she was trying to avoid. 100% unforced accident. No weather. No other drivers acting poorly.

I called 911 to alert them to the accident, and walked to the car. It was four girls commuting to college. The driver was just sitting in her wrecked car when I asked if anyone was hurt saying “I can’t afford this…” over and over again. But everyone in her car seemed okay. I told her not to worry about that yet, everyone was okay and that’s what she should focus on. But…in one ear…

I have had several occasions to call 9–1-1. Once when my oven caught on fire, also when my son fell off the pool slide and went into the pool with an injured shoulder; two times I was in a car accident (no one was hurt) and once when a visiting relative had chest pains, it turned out to be reflux.
Once when my finger got smashed, I didn’t bother with calling, my husband drove me to emergency. It wasn’t broken.

Whatever did we do before 911?

Oh. I used to have a fridge that had exposed coils. The coils would develop frost. My daughter, who was 4 at the time, tried to lick the frost. Her blood curdling screams even rattled the dispatcher.

@Dutchess_III where I grew up, the police had one number (xxx-931–1111) and fire had another (xxx-931–2222).

The city gave out refrigerator magnets to every household.

I think we called the operator and asked them to connect us to the police. Don’t really remember for sure.

I think you are right. You could dial 0 from a pay phone without a dime.

Various calls to the police and the fire department. There were some rough years with my sons. Also one when someone was trying to break into the garage, and two or three ER trips for my husband.

Oh, and one for me when I fell and broke my arm leaving the theater, but I guess I didn’t make that call as I was lying on the steps of the auditorium.

And yes, @smudges, we used to dial 0 for Operator in an emergency.

@Dutchess_III, how did he get stuck in a mailbox?

^^ I was curious but I wasn’t going to ask @Dutchess_III that! Probably brings up bad memories. :D

LOL! I have a whole article written about it! Long story short, we went to visit my girlfriend. When you walked onto the porch you passed a slot for mail that went directly into the house.
My son,.who was 3 or so, stuck his arm in the slot to wave “HI!” into the house. He stuck it in past his elbow…..then couldn’t get it back out.
Highlight from my story…unbeknownst to me, my friend had been frying taters when we arrived. For some reason she forgot about them.
She went inside to call 911 and just as she dialed, the smoke detectors went off. Oh Jesus. The house is on fire and my kid is stuck in the wall.
The other kids were trying to make him be It, from the Adams family and kept shoving mail in his hand which made him scream.
My girlfriend was balanced on a chair trying to knock the smoke detector off the wall with a broom, yelling at the dispatcher ”No! There is no fire! I have a kid stuck in my mailbox!!”
They sent 2 fire trucks and a paramedic truck.
It was exciting.
And so it goes.

@Dutchess_III Now THAT is a story!

Glad you liked it! :) it is one of the best out of a hundred or so Stupid Chris Stories.

I called 911 once because I witnessed a bad accident at about 1:00 in the morning on the highway and I was one of the few people around. I also had to call 911 for myself this past February because I was having breathing issues and my heart was racing.

Many times, usually for medical emergencies with family. Once for a crossbow arrow through my patio glass.

Oh, I completely forgot to mention the many times I had to call them for my mom. But usually it was because she had fallen, but not hurt herself, so it was more for a lift assist because I couldn’t lift her for myself. But a few times it was because she was really sick and weak and needed to go to the hospital.