Posted on 04/13/2005 11:12:46 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
Mom not laughing at 911 dispatcher's 'joke'
By Leila Fadel
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
WATAUGA - Lori came home to find her daughters fighting that Monday evening. Her 12-year-old had kicked a hole in the door, and the girls were hitting and throwing things at each other. She feared one or both would be seriously hurt.
She called 911 and asked for help. Her 12-year-old daughter was out of control, she told the call-taker.
"OK. Do you want us to come over to shoot her?" the dispatcher asked, according to a recording released this week. For five seconds, the line went dead.
"Are you there?" the call-taker asked.
"Excuse me?" Lori said.
Mike Forbess, a dispatcher of five years for the Watauga Department of Public Safety, then told her he was joking and apologized. But Lori cannot get his comment out of her head.
"This is a slap in the face that my child was not important enough, my call for help, my 911 call was not important enough that he had to make a joke about it," Lori said Monday. She asked that her last name not be used to avoid identifying her daughters, one of whom has emotional problems.
Forbess immediately told his supervisor about the call. He received a letter of reprimand two days later. Forbess received a second letter of reprimand from Chief David Van Laar on Monday, the same day the Star-Telegram obtained a copy of the 911 call recording, and of Forbess' disciplinary records.
The mother, however, said her faith in the 911 system remains shaken. She said she plans to file a formal complaint.
"I do not have words to tell you how shocked I am that someone is allowed to do this," she said. "You don't do people like this, and then get a slap on the wrist."
In his letter to Forbess, Van Laar wrote: "This type of response cannot be tolerated, and this letter shall serve as notice that any future unprofessional responses while answering the 911 line will be cause for termination."
But the reprimand is not enough, the mother said.
The next time she has an emergency, she said, she won't feel safe calling 911.
"This man does need to be disciplined," Lori said. "How can a person in this line of work be so unfeeling that he asked a person who needed help, 'Would you like us to come over and shoot your child?'
"That's an interoffice disciplinary action," she said of the reprimands. "That doesn't do anything.
Van Laar made no excuses for the dispatcher.
"The reason I didn't take tougher action is, he immediately owned up to his supervisor and said he made a mistake," Van Laar said. "He's a good employee. He just made a severe mistake which is inexcusable. ... This is not something you should hear on the other end of a 911 call."
In an interview Monday, Forbess said he is sorry for his comment to the woman. In five years with the department, the dispatcher has never been disciplined for his handling of 911 calls.
Forbess has received two commendations from community members for his work. He was disciplined once with a written warning for working an unauthorized shift for a co-worker.
"I am so sorry for what I said to that lady, and I can never make it up to her," Forbess said. "I'm ashamed of my actions, what I said and what I did. I would take it back if I could, but I can't. I'm just very sorry that I did it. It was a poor choice of things to say."
Forbess said that he sometimes tells jokes or changes his tone of voice to ease the stress of a caller. In this case, he said, his words made the situation worse.
"I admit what I did. It was stupid, it was inexcusable and I'm sorry," Forbess said. "I know it's not enough for her or for the papers or for the rest of the world. I've taken the punishment that they gave."
" Yeah, I don't understand why there isn't three-digit non-emergency numbers."
In my area (upstate New York) it's 411.
I still think "harmful cheeseburger" would make a great punk rock band name.
Put the girls in the yard and let them settle it.
I bought my girls boxing gloves and told them to take it outside.
I've got 3 boys. As the younger ones got bigger, the older ones were allowed to defend themselves. It only takes once or twice before the younger ones quit hitting the older ones.
YOu have a point there. Why didn't daddy split up the two warring siblings? Maybe 911 has become the single mom's authority figure.
"Lori came home to find her daughters fighting that Monday evening. Her 12-year-old had kicked a hole in the door, and the girls were hitting and throwing things at each other."
I am probably going to get flamed, but here goes --
-Why did Lori leave those girls home alone when she knows one of them has "emotional problems" and go off at any time?
-Where is the father?
-My guess is Lori is a welfare queen and lives in Section 8 housing, so they don't care if they destroy it.
Hell -- meet handcart!
I'll give you a honk and you get out of the way. :-)
Our faith in your parenting skills is, well, gone.
She should have called the girls father.
An emergency???
An unruly 12-year old, and emergency?
It's no wonder our country is so screwed up. Since when is it the state's problem to deal with 'out of control' pre-teens honey???
I don't know whether to laugh my brains out or die cryin' myself to death!
I listened to the audio of that 911 cheeseburger call, it's a riot!
So here is what it is coming to, parents calling the cops to discipline their kids?! How sad! It's like that show "The Nanny". Calling in someone else to control toddlers! Wait til the kids are 18! Watch out!
So here is what it is coming to, parents calling the cops to discipline their kids?! How sad! It's like that show "The Nanny". Calling in someone else to control toddlers! Wait til the kids are 18! Watch out!
I agree. Promotion. "My 12-year-old is fighting! Police!"
It's a tough situation.
It's entirely possible she called 911 in front of the brats to scare them into behaving.
That's what I thought after I read the post about someone hearing the actual call and the mother was initially giggling.
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