An Ohio 911 dispatcher quickly sprang to action after realizing a girl calling for pizza was actually calling for help.
The Blade reports that an unidentified girl called 911 and placed an order for a large pepperoni pizza after her mother’s boyfriend allegedly arrived drunk at their Oregon, Ohio, home and started hitting her mother. The dispatcher, Tim Teneyck, told the girl she dialed the wrong number, but the girl didn’t give up.
Teneyck: “You called 911 to order a pizza?”
Girl: “Uh, yeah.”
Teneyck: “This is the wrong number to call for a pizza.”
Girl: “No, no, no….. you’re not understanding.”
Teneyck: “I’m getting it now, I got it……Is the other guy still there?”
Girl: “Yep. I need a large pizza.”
When authorities arrived at the girl’s home, they arrested Simon Lopez, 56. According to the girl’s mother, Lopez threatened to beat her, punched her with a closed fist, and pushed her into a wall. Authorities charged Lopez with domestic abuse and issue a restraining order to prevent him from going near the girl’s mother.
“You see it on Facebook, but it’s not something that anybody has ever been trained for. We’re just trained to listen,” Teneyck told ABC13. “Other dispatchers that I’ve talked to would not have picked up on this.”
Oregon Chief of Police Michael Navarre said he’s never heard of someone calling 911 to order a pizza while in need of help. He praised Teneyck for picking up on the clues that most dispatchers would not have.
“He picked up on a woman who was in distress but was in a position where she couldn’t convey it to him in those words,” Navarre said.
Teneyck added that dispatchers still need as much information as possible to get authorities en route and to the proper place, according to The Washington Post. There have been other 911 calls for pizzas that were not handled correctly, but as a last resort, he doesn’t discourage it.
“If it’s your only option, and that abusive person is next to you and listening to everything you say, then by all means — you call and order that pizza.”
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[Feature Photo: Pixabay]
