Woman dies after son calls 911; dispatchers think it's a prank
 

What a shame....:coffee:

I'd like to hear the tape of the boy's call personally.

Fact is they do get a lot of pranks and maybe he really sounded that way. Of course that's no excuse either; they should follow up even on pranks...of course it would help if communities properly funded public services.

one of the few incidents where, if what is stated is true, I'd support a punitive lawsuit.

Count me in too. I mean, really, does a 6-year-old have that sopisticated of an intellect to get his funnies from pranking 911? I highly doubt it. They should have just sent a cruiser out there to check. That is much cheaper then sending an ambulance. Once the policeman gets there, he can radio in for an ambulance. I think this city is going to be paying that family.

True. Im shocked they wouldn't at least check it out. That is a pretty sad story.

Makes you think the penalty for a 911 prank should be severe.

They tell parents to teach children as young as possible to dial 911 incase of an emergency but when they do the operator(s) think its a prank. Why? Because he sounded young? I'm impressed that he knew well enough to actually dial 911.

My thoughts exactly.

Omg that is so sad. I'm all about a punitive lawsuit too. Just because the child was young doesn't mean he wasn't telling the truth. At 6 years old it was drilled into my head when to call 911. Thankfully at 12 when I found my father dead in his chair they didn't think it was a prank. Personally not only do I believe that a punitive lawsuit is justified, but I think that operator should be brought up on criminal charges

Sue big time and the operator should be doing some time in prision 10 - 15 years...

Absolutely uncalled for on all levels. The operator was untrained and should have never had that job, stick her in prison and have the city pay out the butt so this is the last time someone so stupid is allowed to work an important job...

Man that's so sad....I bet that dispatcher feels like a complete deuche bag now...

Man that could have been my daughter calling for my wife while I was at work or somewhere.

String the operator up. Yes this is a rare occasion were a lawsuit(s) are definatly justified.

I belive it's standard procedure here to respond to all calls, even if they think it might be a prank. Yes if it's a prank it is a waste of resources and the officer might could have been doing something else more constructive. But like this it could take presidence over a traffic ticket too, if there is something more sever going on, there are other officers that can respond to those calls while teh respnding officer investigates a potential call for help.

ouch

I don't know what Detroit police departments policies on 911 calls regarding medical emergencies but I assure you that it's not on par with 99.9% of the other departments in America. I can't tell you how many calls I've responded to where it was probably juveniles playing on the phone but they still go out as a priority call and are dispatched immediately. If it ends up being just that than great no harm no foul, but if it's something where medical assistance is needed than it gets rolling. I'd rather go and not be needed than not go and actually be needed.

I don't understand the justification of the union rep for the dispatcher saying that she might have had 5 other prank calls right before the call the littl boy made. These dispatchers are very well trained and are very good at determining a prank. If they think the call has even a tiny bit of validity then they dispatch it to officers for response. Sounds like Detroit has a lot of 'splainin to do and maybe some departmental changes are in order.

While I don't agree with a 10-15 year sentence as mentioned earlier some kind of action need be taken.

Yeah, very thorough. Good grief, two people almost making excuses for the operator... sheesh.

Because of her years of service, she will not be fired, just disciplined...

that is terrible... :confused:

Over my dead body would I let that woman work again. I would start an open campaign against the dispatchers and there little union until she was fired. "Discipline" could be anything to those people. She got someone killed, shouldn't that be negligent homicide? Fire her AND put her lazy ass on trial. Then take that dispatchers union and the office for about 300k in a settlement out of court.