How many times have you had to call 911?

[scotcat]

Three times.

The first was when I was 15. I was the witness to an assault. Long story short - 2 teenage boys had a fight that got way out of hand (a knife was involved). An adult neighbour came out to see what all the commotion was, so he broke up the fight & I went in to his house to call the police.

The second was when I was 29. I heard a huge bang one Friday night and looked out my bedroom window to find a car had crashed into the house across the street. I called for the police and an ambulance.

The third time was 3 weeks ago. I was in town & on the bus when some guy comes on that was clearly high as a kite and/or more than a little drunk. He was screaming abuse at both the passengers & the driver & refused to let the bus move. Had to call the police to get him moved do we could all get home.

[sj4iy]

6 times that I can remember.

Once when I heard my downstairs neighbors have a domestic dispute.

Once when I heard my across the street neighbor threatening another neighbor with a gun.

Once when I had a bad reaction to an antibiotic and couldn't stop throwing up.

Once when I woke up one night and smelled burning in our townhouse.

Once when we found a snake in our townhouse.

Once when I got a stomach bug and it triggered an Addisonian crisis (ie: my blood pressure crashed and I went into shock). Most of the time I go to the ER before I go into crisis mode, but this happened too suddenly.

[TerraPrime]

Well over 20 times, all about noise issues with neighbors (several different neighbors at several different locations).

The one serious incident was when I was in college and got death threat phone calls from an anti-gay person. They eventually found out who he is and he was expelled from school.

[Tears of Lys]

oh where do I start? These where the times I've called 999 while fully clothed.

twice at arround xmass when Grandad had one of his turns.

once when the guy in a motorbike while stopped at a junction he fell over and was having a heart attack.

once when we discovered a car in a ditch that was on fire

once when I came home from work and noticed one of the houses in the street being burgled.

and once when this old confused lady was at first I thougth trying to cross the road but soon realised she was probably suffering from some form of dementure and had escaped, when I tried to help her she sat in the middle of the road and took all her clothes off then complain at how cold it was.

the only time I've been naked and called 999 without sharing with the board before was when hubby was very ill in the night. I don't need to repeat the other stories.

I've been in situations where other people have called them, normally these involve me being nakid and locked out of the house. I've shared those stories with you before.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love your nekkid stories, Pebble? :love:

@OP-

You're a better person than most. Call it divine circumstance, or whatever... you were the right person to have notice these people at exactly the right time. Three times you called for a complete stranger. A lot of people would never have even paused, you beautiful fucking soul.

Allow me to share:

Point being... maybe you've had to call so many times, because you're one of the few people who care enough to call.

I was thinking the same thing myself. Good on you, LLR.

Well over 20 times, all about noise issues with neighbors (several different neighbors at several different locations).

The one serious incident was when I was in college and got death threat phone calls from an anti-gay person. They eventually found out who he is and he was expelled from school.

Terra, are you supposed to call 911, the emergency line, for noise complaints? I didn't think it was supposed to be used for that. :dunno:

I can see why you'd use it for immediate death threats, though. (gulp)

I think I may have used 911 once - my father was having a health crisis and we needed an ambulance STAT. I definitely wouldn't hesitate to use it if I saw someone in bad trouble. Hell, I even use the phone app "Waze" and report road construction work, etc., to other drivers. :P

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

Love the stories! I am also a little relieved to know that I am not the only one who has had to call 911 this many times!

[Robin Of House Hill]

Only twice. Once, because I witnessed an auto accident and once because I heard a woman screaming, at night.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Terra, are you supposed to call 911, the emergency line, for noise complaints? I didn't think it was supposed to be used for that. :dunno:

I got curious about it (in my city (nonUSA), we have mostly the Police or "Serenazgo" (something like "night watch", even though it also work during day, heh) to call about any kind of disturbance), so I googled: It's not "wrong" but isn't right either, depending on what is the noise complain. It's more appropriate to call the police for that.

BTW, I've also called emergency because my lovely neighbours decided to practice with their band at 3:30am. Mostly noises and parties are allowed until 1am or 2am. It's not an "official" time limit, but I guess mostly people understand that others have the right to have fun, specially weekends. Anyway, at first, I didn't know what house the noise came from, so, I dialled emergency and as I couldn't give them an address, they didnt' want to come. When they sent someone, they couldn't find the house either. I had to wait outside, for any police car patrolling I could catch ,and I made them hear the noise when I got them to stop. They later sent an inspector who had to wait until the band finished the song because they couldn't hear the doorbell with their own noise. When they finished, it was the neighbour's parents the ones opening the door to the police officers, because their son, a known junkie, was probably high as fuck.

[Davrum]

Once due a disturbance in the street in the early hours of the morning. Heard shouting, peeked through the curtain and it was a group of about 5 gathered around a car parked on the side of the road, shouting their heads off. There was no violence but one person had the bonnet/hood up and was pulling the spark-plug leads out. Turns out that person was one of the good guys trying to stop someone else driving drunk.

Twice due to witnessing motor vehicle collisions first-hand and once due to hearing a vehicle collision and running out to the road where I was one of the first on the scene.

Once due to a work accident.

...

once when we discovered a car in a ditch that was on fire

...

the only time I've been naked and called 999 without sharing with the board before was when hubby was very ill in the night. I don't need to repeat the other stories.

...

1) That's why EVERYBODY should at the very least have an easily accessible fire extinguisher in their vehicle.

2) I was naked during the first incident I described. Thank the gods for all concerned I was in my bedroom in the dark.

[dalThor]

Once. I worked in a pay-first, bulletproofed glass gas station during college. There was a dispute followed by stabbing. The guy actually threw the knife in the money slot of the window. I pulled it out with a large wad of paper towels and threw it in a wastebasket. The police asked if I could get it out for them and I politely declined.

If you need to call 911 for the police for something like a noise complaint, start with the sentence, "This is not an emergency. This is a (noise complaint)". If they have something else cooking they'll know they can get back to you in a minute or three.

[Little Miss Sunshine]

Twice.

The first time was when I still still living in my home country and I was still a teenager. I was exiting the mall with two classmates when we saw an old lady on the floor having trouble breathing. I called the emergency line twice, it rang rang rang rang....... and no one picked up the call. <_< Fortunately, an adult spotted the situation and helped us.

The second time was about two months ago, and in fact it was my boyfriend who called the ambulance because of me.

[deleted01]

We have a non-emergency number for the police in the UK now (and for health issues too, I believe). I called that once when I wasn't sure which number to call, and they politely put me through to the emergency control room. If in doubt, call non-emergency if possible.

I thought of another instance. We were walking back from the pub late one night, and saw a guy sprawled out on the floor. He was non-responsive, so we called an ambulance. He woke up and had clearly taken something, and so the ambulance wouldn't take him. He saw the flashing lights, obviously thought we'd called the police, and got a bit aggressive. He took off once the paramedic said he wouldn't be taking him to hospital. I still wonder sometimes if he got home alright.

[Game Of Thrones]

Zero.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

For noise complaints, I've had to make a few, I call the dispatch line for my County Sheriff's department. They a very responsive and I'm not tieing up a 911 operator for a non-emergency call.

[Larry of the Lawn]

The house I lived in during highschool was the closest to a really bad rural intersection. The hill was pretty steep with a sharp turn cutting across it. I bet I called a dozen times for peoples cars rolling over.

Called once from a friends when a child on a bike road out into the traffic and was struck by a car.

Once to report a car driving the wrong way on a highway with no shoulder. Seriously thought it was going to kill someone.

Once when I lived in DC to report a cop beating on a guy in the alley behind my friends house. (Waste of time)

[Littlefingers In The Air]

What happened with the kid, Larry?

[Larry of the Lawn]

He broke some ribs and his arm, and had a concussion.. it looked a lot worse than it was, his ears were bleeding and he was screaming, but he was okay in the end.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

Poor kid. Still, at least it didn't turn out for the worst.

[TerraPrime]

No I didn't call 911 for the noise compalaints except the first time. We began calling the local police station directly after that. Sorry for the confusion.

And in case people were wondering, the noise complaints weren't just me being annoyed. In one case, we were on the second floor, and the noise was so loud from the tenants below us, that the glass of water on our coffee table began to hop along on the table. In a second case, our street got turned into a teenager block party with over 100 teenagers milling around in the street with loud music, walking across our front and back yards, trash everywhere, etc.

[The Iceman of the North]

Once when smelling smoke from the next-door neighbour. The cat was OK, but it was some smokedamages caused by (IIRC) the clothes drying catching fire.