911 Operator Arrested for Hanging Up on Callers

[bashfulpixie]

I'm flabbergasted.  That poor man who died. 

911 Operator Arrested for Hanging Up on Callers

(CNN)After hanging up mid-sentence on a caller, a Houston 911 call center operator was heard on a recording saying, "Ain't nobody got time for this. For real," according to charging documents.  That call center operator identified as Crenshanda Williams was arrested and charged after allegedly hanging up on what could be thousands of emergency callers, according to the documents.

The 43-year-old had been placed under police investigation after her supervisors noticed that she had an abnormally large number of calls that lasted less than 20 seconds.  A review of the Houston Emergency Center database found that "thousands of short calls have been attributed to the defendant" from October 2015 to March 2016.

When interviewed by Houston Police in June, Williams allegedly told officers she often hung up on calls because she did not want to talk to anyone at that time. She was charged with interference with an emergency telephone call, which is a misdemeanor.  Williams does not have an attorney listed in the court documents and did not respond to CNN's request for comment.  She's scheduled for a court appearance next week, according to CNN affiliate KPRC.

After robbery call, shop owner killed

Houston Police specified two incidents, alleging that in both cases Williams intentionally hung up on the emergency callers.  On March 12, a man identified as Hua Li dialed 911 at 8:10 p.m. to report an armed robbery.  Li had walked into a store that evening to buy lottery tickets. He heard someone yelling that there was a robbery and saw a man with a gun. Li counted five to six gunshots, then got into his car and drove away, as he tried to call for help.

Williams immediately hung up on Li's first call, according to the charging documents.  A minute later, Li called again, and Williams answered: "Houston 911, do you need medical, police or fire?"

"This is a robbery," Li responded.  Williams sighed before hanging up on him again, according to the charging documents.  He later told an investigator that he was "frustrated" but kept calling 911. On his third try, Li connected to another operator and was able to report the crime.  When officers arrived on scene, the store manager had been shot and killed, according to CNN affiliate KPRC. The victim was a father of four and had been expecting his first grandchild, according to CNN affiliate KTRK.

Li told KPRC that without 911, "Nobody, nobody is going to help you. You're on your own."

Trucks racing on highway

The second incident specified by Houston Police occurred on March 13 as a driver attempted to report trucks racing on the highway.  The driver, Jim Moten Jr. dialed 911 and Williams picked up his call.  Moten identified himself and began telling her, "I'm driving 45 South right now and right now, I am at ..."  While Moten was mid-sentence, the call disconnected. That was when Williams was heard complaining on the recording that she didn't have time.  Moten called 911 again and got through with a different dispatcher.

[Flossie]

I called our local 911 a few years ago to report a prowler in our yard.  The woman replied "Well, what do want us to do about it?"  I was stunned.  In the end I got her to request a cop drive through the neighborhood, but she acted like it was a terrible imposition on her.

[LadyCrow1313]

I've had recent experiences with 911 myself, but the dispatchers & officers were all polite & had a decent sense of humor.

Maybe it's naïve to say/think this, but you'd think that in a job with such an important function as this, the rep would be professional & not act like a butthole. (I know, I know; it's logic disease. My coworkers & I have a running joke about having that when at work & things &/or procedures don't work the way that they should.) 

[VooDooChild]

I hope this dumbass gets the same treatment if she ever needs to call for emergency help for herself.  How can one person be so uncaring and pathetic?  

[Mercer]

I could somewhat understand (not agree with or approve of, but understand) how someone in a high-stress job like a 911 operator might get overwhelmed, panic, and do something rash like hanging up if it happened once. It's a terrible thing to do and could have devastating consequences even once, but the human brain does very strange things in self-preservation mode.

What puts this beyond my ability to understand or empathize with is that she hung up on possibly thousands of calls over a period of a year and a half. If she found she couldn't handle the stress of being a 911 operator, she should have quit and found a different job. There's no excuse whatsoever for putting that many people in danger while she hung onto her position supposedly dealing with life-threatening emergencies for that length of time but refusing to actually help people.