Posted April 9, 200619 yr DETROIT -- A 6-year-old boy's 911 call for help was thought to be a prank, but the call was real and the boy's mother died, according to WDIV-TV in Detroit. Robert Turner called 911 to get help for his mother, Sherel Turner, 46, whom he found lying unconscious on the kitchen floor of their Detroit apartment in February, the station reported. "Then I had felt her tummy. She wasn't breathing. Then I had called 911," said Robert. "I told them to send an emergency truck right now." 911 Operator: "911. What's the problem?" Robert: "My mom has passed out." The 911 operator, however, did not take him seriously and told him to stop playing on the phone, the station reported. 911 Operator: "Where's the grownups at?" Robert: (Inaudible) 911 Operator: "Let me speak to her before I send the police over there." "I tried to tell them she wouldn't talk," said Robert. Robert: (Inaudible) 911 Operator: "I don't care. You shouldn't be playing on the phone. Now put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you gonna be in trouble." Robert: "Ugh!" (Hangs up.) Kimberly Harris, the union president of AFSCME Local 1023, said more than a quarter of phone calls received by 911 operators are prank calls. She also said that everybody does not express their pain or emergencies the same way. "That operator could have had five prank calls. Kids calling in prior to that call. And please, don't think that I am trying to make an excuse. That was a tragedy," said Harris. Robert Turner Officials said the 911 operator will be disciplined, but because of her years of service she will not be fired. "I know that operator. I know that she is a very good operator," said Harris. "She is very thorough." Robert said every time someone talks about his mother, he starts crying. Police continue to investigate. This is flat out disgusting, that operator should have been fired, or better yet, charged with something along the lines of negligent manslaughter. But instead she'll probably just receive a "verbal warning"
April 9, 200619 yr The worst punishment is that she has to live with this women's death for the rest of her life. But yeah, she should be fired too.
April 9, 200619 yr The sad part is that they do get tons of prank calls. Kids think it's fun to call and report bogus emergencies. Or the people who call because their Amazon order wasn't correct. What a senseless death.
April 9, 200619 yr The family should sue. This is completely unacceptable, no matter how many prank calls there are. Every one needs to be taken seriously.
April 9, 200619 yr Well, she was probably already dead even before the first phone call, but yeah, that's f***ed up. For the most part, the media depiction of this hasn't even been close to what went on. Here's what happened: Sherrill Turner, 46, died of complications from an enlarged heart, family members said. Police were investigating whether the same operator handled both calls. ... According to the recording, when the boy -- who was alone with his mother -- first called 911 about 6 p.m., an operator asked him to bring an adult to the phone. Robert told the operator he couldn't. At one point, "she hanged up on me," Robert said Friday. The recording indicates the dispatcher hung up after saying she would send police to the home. They did not arrive. Robert called back about 9 p.m. An operator told him: "You shouldn't be playing on the phone. ... Now put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you going to be in trouble." Robert said he was scared and hung up the phone. One of the boy's older sisters, Delaina Patterson, who lives in Novi, said police -- not EMS workers -- arrived at the home after 9 p.m. "From what I understand they were dispatched to a call about a child playing on the phone," she said. Robert's mother was found dead. It was not clear at what point she died or whether she was alive when Robert made the first call. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006604080315 audio of the first call at 6pm The first operator was nice to him and said she was sending police, though it looks like either she f***ed up in not sending them or the police f***ed up in not getting there. audio of the second call at 9pm The second operator was a bitch to him, yes, but she did send help; the kid was totally unintelligible so she sent the popo to see what's going on at the house, like she's supposed to. They got to see his mom's corpse. I don't know enough to say whether the first operator should have been fired, but the actions of the second one don't bother me too much, considering that the kid could barely speak English and seeing as how his mom was almost certainly long-dead.
April 9, 200619 yr The sad part is that they do get tons of prank calls. Kids think it's fun to call and report bogus emergencies. Or the people who call because their Amazon order wasn't correct. What a senseless death. Agreed. I say there's two issues here. 1. Kids making pranks phone calls. This should be punished more rigorously as to give an example to others not to do it. 2. The kid can't communicate clearly. How do you know what to believe when the kid's so young he can't express an idea clearly? I commend the kid for calling 911, but I find it hard to say the operator should be anything but given a really tough punishment (but not total termination).
April 9, 200619 yr Author 2. The kid can't communicate clearly. How do you know what to believe when the kid's so young he can't express an idea clearly? I commend the kid for calling 911, but I find it hard to say the operator should be anything but given a really tough punishment (but not total termination). "My mom has passed out" was clear and concise, that should have been enough to send an ambulance but instead the operator used her own poor judgement and didn't believe him. That is unacceptable and she should be fired and charged with whatever the most law the will allow. How do you know what to believe when the kid is so young he can't express an idea clearly? That's why YOU don't make the decision and you send help regardless. There are so many 911 calls where someone will dial and not even say anything audible with just random mumbling and help will still be sent, what happened here was unacceptable and to try and place the blame on the kid is flat out absurd.
April 9, 200619 yr listen to the tapes, dude. and read the freep article. it's not that cut and dry at all.
April 9, 200619 yr They need to find out why nobody was sent at 6PM. It sounds like the first operator thought it was a prank call too. The second one only sent the cops because she really thought it was a prank call. Regardless of how many prank calls they get, they really shouldnt be making judgements on whether something is a prank or not. They should err on the side of sending someone.
April 9, 200619 yr 2. The kid can't communicate clearly. How do you know what to believe when the kid's so young he can't express an idea clearly? I commend the kid for calling 911, but I find it hard to say the operator should be anything but given a really tough punishment (but not total termination). "My mom has passed out" was clear and concise, that should have been enough to send an ambulance but instead the operator used her own poor judgement and didn't believe him. That is unacceptable and she should be fired and charged with whatever the most law the will allow. How do you know what to believe when the kid is so young he can't express an idea clearly? That's why YOU don't make the decision and you send help regardless. There are so many 911 calls where someone will dial and not even say anything audible with just random mumbling and help will still be sent, what happened here was unacceptable and to try and place the blame on the kid is flat out absurd. Never did I have "blame" handed out to the kid. The kid dialed 911 and you can only understand every third word. I agree with Flying Mollusk that the cops should have been sent the first time, however, because she said she was sending the police. Don't try and put words in my mouth with your idiot conjecture. I merely said there was plausibility upon listening to the tapes that it was a prank. Never did I say it was the kid's fault. However, it's a little early to put the blame on the operators at this point anyways. It's not even clear the first operator didn't tell a cruise to go by the house on a "possible prank call" and they said screw it and took their sweet ass time.
April 9, 200619 yr They need to find out why nobody was sent at 6PM. It sounds like the first operator thought it was a prank call too. The second one only sent the cops because she really thought it was a prank call. Regardless of how many prank calls they get, they really shouldnt be making judgements on whether something is a prank or not. They should err on the side of sending someone. Totally agree.
April 9, 200619 yr I don't see why "there were a bunch of prank calls earlier" makes any difference whatsoever, unless the prank calls were actually made from this family's phone number. :blink:
April 9, 200619 yr Any call into 911 should have someone sent to check it out. It's not up to the call taker to decide if it's a prank or not. At least the way it works here, even if they think it's kids playing on the phone (or even if there's no voice or sound at all), the police are sent. On the second call, the kid is pretty clear in saying that his mother passed out. Nevermind that the mother was already dead, that operator handled the call horribly; instead of sending rescue she took it as a prank and told him she was sending the police and he would get in trouble. She basically only got it half-right and gave the kid a hard time to boot. If she was still alive, by the time the police got there and found out what was going on, it would then take several more minutes for the paramedics to arrive. Every second counts.
April 10, 200619 yr The whole "put her on the phone" part makes it pretty obvious that the second operator didn't quite comprehend that he was stating that his mom was unconscious/dead. She sent the cops to find out what was going on like she was supposed to....yeah, she was a bitch to the kid, but they don't send out cops purely to harass kids. Those cops get dispatched, regardless, if there isn't someone to clear up what's going on. That's why the real question is what went on with the first 911 call....the second one, which is getting all the pub, is basically irrelevant, imo.
April 10, 200619 yr sue the F%$%$%$ sh$$ out of the state, company that is running the 911 service and the rep. That is just disgusting as living hell.
April 10, 200619 yr In our county, once 911 has been dialed you can not STOP the police from coming. They are required to investigate every 911 call. When I was living in the student ghettos, my upstairs neighbor's dog knocked the phone off the hook and hit the emergency button. The police showed up. It took them almost TWO HOURS to get inside because they were afraid of a 6 month old rotty - but that's another story. Also, we have a retirement community in my fire district. If an old person accidentally pulls the emergency cord, fire, police, and ems shows up. We actually respond with a pumper because often times it's for burned food on the stove. Even if an admin calls to try to cancel us, we are obligated to continue the response and verify for ourselves [prevents firebugs from getting the drop].
April 10, 200619 yr The whole "put her on the phone" part makes it pretty obvious that the second operator didn't quite comprehend that he was stating that his mom was unconscious/dead. She sent the cops to find out what was going on like she was supposed to....yeah, she was a bitch to the kid, but they don't send out cops purely to harass kids. Those cops get dispatched, regardless, if there isn't someone to clear up what's going on. I wasn't implying that she sent the cops to harass the kid; merely that she sent the cops in addition to scolding him for what she thought was a prank call. She shouln't be confrontational with the caller. Especially now that it makes her entire agency look bad in hindsight, given the circumstances. That's why the real question is what went on with the first 911 call....the second one, which is getting all the pub, is basically irrelevant, imo. I agree that the primary concern should be to find out why there was no response to the first call. But that doesn't make the second operator's behavior irrelevant, IMHO.
April 10, 200619 yr Possible grounds for manslaughter charges, prank call schmank call...I dont doubt there are prank calls, but I have taken from this that the kid was most likely upset on the phone, upset enough to the point that it was able to differientiate between prank and real. Also, most kids wont use something bad happening to their mother as the focus of a fake emergency call.
April 10, 200619 yr Author In our county, once 911 has been dialed you can not STOP the police from coming. They are required to investigate every 911 call. Unforutnately that isn't the case for most other places, the Supreme Court ruled last summer in Castle Rock v. Gonzales that the police have no legal obligation whatsoever to protect the public including no legal obligation to respond to calls - there is no constitutional right to protection by police, even in the case of having a restraining order.
April 10, 200619 yr In our county, once 911 has been dialed you can not STOP the police from coming. They are required to investigate every 911 call. Unforutnately that isn't the case for most other places, the Supreme Court ruled last summer in Castle Rock v. Gonzales that the police have no legal obligation whatsoever to protect the public including no legal obligation to respond to calls - there is no constitutional right to protection by police, even in the case of having a restraining order. Now that is stupid.
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