Sharon Nichols, the fired Detroit 911 operator who dismissed a 5-year-old's call as a prank while the boys mother died in 2006, recently won an arbitrators ruling and is heading back to work, according to WJR.
Listen to the 911 call on WJR:
Robert Turner, 5, called 911 at 6 p.m. after his mother collapsed in her bedroom on Detroit's west side. Nichols hung up on Turner after asking him to put an adult on the phone. She told him she would send police — not EMS — but they never arrived.
Turner called back at 9 p.m., at which point another 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."
Police finally arrived after 9 p.m. and found Sherrill Turner, mother of 10, dead.
New Police Chief Warren Evans explained the arbitrator's ruling last night on WJR, saying an initial one day suspension gave the arbitrator enough room to put Nichols back on the job.
"The problem was that during a trial board process prior to that the command officer that first issued discipline, only issued a one day suspension," Evans said. "So when the arbitrator saw the distinction between somebody in the department saying it should only be one day &mdash which seems bizarre to me — contrasted with the chief saying termination that gave the arbitrator just enough room, I think, to say I've got to bring this person back."
Police spokesman John Roach says the city will comply.
This story was updated with additional content from The Associated Press
jeffreyclay on July 22nd, 2018 at 12:02 UTC »
I had to make that same call in 1964. My mother had been shot twice in the gut with a .45. I called the operator for help and ambulance (no 911 back then) multiple times in a 15 minute period. The last time she answered I was told not to play on the phone. Help did arrive and after 9 hours of surgery my Mom survived.
MithridatesX on July 22nd, 2018 at 11:23 UTC »
One time as a little kid (about 4/5) I found my mum’s phone while my aunt was round and managed to hit the emergency dial option/dialed 999. I don’t remember this but my mum told me she just walked in to the back room to find me chatting to someone on the phone.
While I hadn’t said anything that would indicate otherwise while on the phone and my mum told the operator that it was an accident. Two Police officers came round and asked to have a quick look around the house and to have a word with me to check I was fine.
My mum was mortified at wasting their time but impressed that despite it being an accident, they took the time to come check on a child that actually had just done it by accident.
Edit: I would just like to say that my mother didn’t just leave me to my own devices (although I was 4/5, so I’m sure I managed to play by myself). At that point my sister would have been 3ish and my middle brother about 1 or 2. So she was distracted with them and talking with my aunt (who would have brought her 1 year old kid) while I was only off causing mischief for under 5 minutes.
BigCityCop on July 22nd, 2018 at 11:20 UTC »
People call 911 for way less. As a first responder I am never angry responding to a "false alaram" call. I have been to several 911 unknown trouble calls where it was a medical emergency only and I was able to get EMS rolling to help the person out. Always treat it like the real thing.