911: Who has called it and why?

[teachercd]

I think I have called it once, my car was stolen (first I had to ask my roommate at the time where I parked because we got blackout drunk the night before). 

[GSG]

I called it once when I was a kid. My mom was working in the yard and saw our elderly neighbor keel over in his yard. I dialed it but gave the phone to her

[Landlord]

I call 911 anytime I'm on a highway/interstate and someone is very obviously under some kind of influence. Had to call 911 on a depressed/alcoholic friend a few months ago who was threatening to commit suicide. 

[BigRedBuster]

1)  Smelled smoke in our house and couldn't find it.  It was middle fo the summer and nobody would have a fire place or burning leaves..etc.  Freaked us out enough that we called and had them come look.  As stupid as it felt, they assured us we did the right thing.

2)  Ended up behind an extremely drunk driver once on I35 in Des Moines.  The guy ended up hitting a guard rail, blowing a tire, continuing on until the I-80 interchange and didn't quite make the curve.  When the police finally got there, he was over heard yelling that he shouldn't be arrested because he's a prominent doctor in the area.

3)  Ended up having to call them once here in Nebraska because we were burning one old building (with a permit) and sparks took off and landed on another building that I had planned on burning, but there was no way I was going to be able to manage both fires.  Since I know everyone on the fire department, they gave me a lot of crap over that one.  I owed them a lot of beer.

4)  I've done a lot of driving/traveling.  I have called a number of times when I would pass a woman alone on the side of the road with car trouble.  I don't want to stop and freak them out as a man, but, I also don't want some other random man to stop and take advantage of the situation.

[JJ Husker]

Only once, when they forgot to put a straw in my bag at Macdonalds. 

 

Actually 3 times that I can recall

1- Aggresive driver-road rage situation

2- Obvious drunk driver

3- Bad auto accident happened right in front of me

[ColoradoHusk]

I think I have called 911 only once in my life.  It was in 1998, I was T-boned on 18th & P (or maybe Q, not sure which one of those is the one way going east) in Lincoln as I was going back to my girlfriend's place after a night out on O Street.  This guy ran a stop sign and t-boned me, and I called 911 for police assistant.  I had just started leasing the vehicle that morning, and it was totaled.

[teachercd]

Just now, ColoradoHusk said:

I think I have called 911 only once in my life.  It was in 1998, I was T-boned on 18th & P (or maybe Q, not sure which one of those is the one way going east) in Lincoln as I was going back to my girlfriend's place after a night out on O Street.  This guy ran a stop sign and t-boned me.  I had just started leasing the vehicle that morning, and it was totaled.

Change "girlfriend" to "Older gentleman caller" and this story is much more accurate.  

[ColoradoHusk]

Just now, teachercd said:

Change "girlfriend" to "Older gentleman caller" and this story is much more accurate.  

Yep, busted!!!

[Cdog923]

I've called it twice. #1 was for an obviously drunk driver on the highway, and #2 was for what looked like a house on fire from the highway. I was told that it was a controlled burn, but it was after 11 pm at night, and I didn't see any fire or safety personnel there, so who knows? 

[sho]

I've called 911 about 2 dozen times.

 

1--Wife and I sitting on our front porch, enjoying the summer evening having a cold beverage.   Look up the street and see domestic violence situation, clear as day, the guy punched a woman in a house.

2--Witnessed a drunk drive into a steel barrier on the interstate

3--Vehicle stolen

4-24--as a kid, growing up in Bellevue, my friend's number was 291-1345.   I missed the '2' so many times and called 911 unintentionally.   

[ColoradoHusk]

6 minutes ago, sho said:

I've called 911 about 2 dozen times.

 

1--Wife and I sitting on our front porch, enjoying the summer evening having a cold beverage.   Look up the street and see domestic violence situation, clear as day, the guy punched a woman in a house.

2--Witnessed a drunk drive into a steel barrier on the interstate

3--Vehicle stolen

4-24--as a kid, growing up in Bellevue, my friend's number was 291-1345.   I missed the '2' so many times and called 911 unintentionally.   

The #4-24 was definitely a "Wait for it" moment.  Ha!!!

[Enhance]

I went approx. 25 years of life without ever calling the police and now I think I've done it 3-4 times in the last five years. It made me feel so old and crotchety the first time. 

 

The times I remember:

1) I was at the HyVee on O St. in Lincoln around 11 p.m. A bunch of high schoolers were hanging out, 'racing' their Honda Civics through the parking lot, some of them getting up near 50-60 mph it looked like from one end to the other.

2) I saw an older woman slumped over her power chair, on a corner, on a very hot day. I called police because I thought she might be hurt. I even pulled over, got out of my car and walked over. Turns out, she had just fallen asleep. But, still... it was a 95+ degree day out and she was in her 90's.

3) I was driving from Lincoln to Omaha on I-80 and saw someone standing on an overpass, on the other side of the protective gate, clearly thinking about jumping. By the time we called, multiple other drivers had also called in. As far as I know, they didn't end up jumping.

[Ulty]

I called a few times when I was working loss prevention at Russ's Market. With a peaceful apprehension I would call the non-emergency number so a shoplifter could be cited, but when we had a runner, I would chase them through the parking lot (which I was certainly NOT supposed to do) while calling 911 at the same time.

 

I witnessed a drunk car accident one night and called 911, some guy tried to turn a corner at high speed and smashed into a parked car and light pole, then tried to get back in his car and leave until I talked him into sitting down on the curb. The officer who responded knew me from the aforementioned loss prevention gig.

 

Another time, I left work late and some guy was wandering the sidewalk obviously confused, possibly drunk, making suicidal statements. Called 911 and stayed with him and talked until someone showed up to help.

[B.B. Hemingway]

I called it once when I was 10 ish, because my grandma (who has heart issues) was grabbing at her chest, and beginning to panic.

 

My wife called it a couple years ago when I woke up in the middle of the night grabbing my chest (even though I repeatedly told her not to because "I'll drive myself to the damn hospital!"). Turned out to be paracarditis, or fluid build up in the lining of your heart. I was 90% sure I was having a heart attack at the time.

[Minnesota_husker]

I have called a few times. 

 

Have witnessed a few accidents and called. 

 

A co-worker of mine was having a seizure and not breathing so I called 911 for that.

 

Our old apartment in Omaha we had a guy knocking on a neighbors door. I think it was his ex and he was threatening her through the door. It was like 3am and didnt really know if it was worth taking the baseball bat out to investigate so called the cops. I heard them show up, he ran away crying saying they were going to shoot him. 

 

Everytime I have called it is amazing the adrenaline rush that comes with dialing those 3 numbers. Also your phone goes on to Emergency mode which I believe doesnt let any incoming calls outside of 911... or at least my phone did a few years back.