After a story about a dispatcher who realized a woman’s 911 call for a pizza order was really a domestic abuse situation where she shouldn’t talk freely, it got us wondering about all those other memorable calls that dispatchers handle every day.
We asked, and you answered. We picked out seven of the best responses that capture those situations that stick with you, and often show how dispatchers go above and beyond in tough situations.
1. “Took a call on Christmas Eve by a 5-year-old who told me that her daddy was hanging from the ceiling and she was scared because he looked purple and he wasn’t talking back to her. Evidently, he put a Disney movie on for her, and when she got thirsty she got up to get him. He had taken a dog leash and hung himself in the same room as the little girl, right behind her. She found him, called 911 and then with my help went to go get grandma who was in another room sleeping. Coached grandma into cutting him down. He’s still alive to this day.” — Melissa Claridge
2. “The one call that stays with me is a 911 call where a lady was very frantic. She told me that she had a bad heart and wore a monitor, and the monitor was basically telling her to get to the hospital ASAP. She was having a hard time breathing while on the phone and just kept whispering ‘please help me, I don’t want to die.’ I stayed on the phone with her until medics arrived, but right before they got there she stopped responding to my voice and questions. I heard a breathy long sigh which sounded a lot like ‘the last breath’ and I was afraid I had just heard this woman pass. Thankfully my amazing crew of medics got to her in time and she lived.” — Courtney Williams
3. “I had one where a 62-year-old male called and said he needed an ambulance. I asked him what was going on and he said his balls were as big as watermelons. I was taken aback for a second and managed to ask him all the pertinent questions and hung up. I dispatched the call as a 32-year-old male with enlarged testicles … counted to three and all the phone lines lit up.” — Susan Hill
4. “Male caller in a small engine airplane that had lost engine control and was going down. Was about two miles from the airport. His voice. The things he requested of me to tell his family. Luckily, I think by remaining calm and getting him to calm down he was able to remember his skills and guide the plane in safely!” — Lara Bell
5. “I am not a dispatcher, just a paramedic working in rural East Tennessee. Our dispatch was operated out of the local sheriff’s department office. As there had been many calls that Sunday morning for deputies, including one about a murder, I happened to stop by the dispatch office to speak with the deputy dispatching for the county. As we talked, another call for a domestic came in and there was no one available to take the call. I decided I could handle the dispatch in a pinch and took over dispatch duties. I handled the numerous calls on the phone from news reporters about the murder, and kept up with dispatch logs. After about an hour the phone rang again and it was the murdered man’s brother on the phone wanting to know what had happened. Needless to say, I have a greater respect for dispatchers after fielding that call and I never want to sit in the hot seat again.” — Patrick Gomer Roberson
6. “Lady calls 911 from out of state, sees an email from a friend sent the night before, telling her she is going to commit suicide. She gives her the information to contact the police department and where they can find her. Caller is very distraught; felt guilty for not seeing the email sooner, didn’t know how to handle the situation. Went to house, found lady; she shot herself with a gun she received the day before, and left her dog in a separate room with enough food and water until someone found her. Normally we don’t release information to callers, but I felt it was necessary to contact the RP and let her know we did find her. I spent a lot of time on the phone with her, giving her as much moral support as possible, to alleviate any feelings of guilt and blame, since her friend had already made her mind up to do what she did. This call may not be traumatic, but it has stayed with me like it was yesterday.” — Roni Noble
7. “One evening around 4 p.m., I received a call from a 6-year-old boy. He advised that his dad was going to kill his mother. I ask where he lived and his response was ‘where the buses run.’ I began to ask him where he went to school, was there a store near his house, until we determined where this angel was. The entire time I could hear the gun going off in the background, even though he had run to a store to call. His mother was putting clothes away that afternoon when the dad, armed with a deer rifle, entered the room. She crawled under the bed and he proceeded to shoot under the bed, striking her hip and blowing it half off. We were able to get an ambulance in time to save her.” — Shane Jackson