In a hyper-vigilant fight against drugs, a Lakewood man dialed 911 on Sunday evening to report there was a man dealing at a busy intersection. But he realized, midway through the call, that he may not have all his information correct.
The call details showed up in the Lakewood police blotter, and included the dispatcher’s fantastic narrative: “MALE STANDING ON THE CORNER IN A WHITE T SHIRT – THINKS HE MIGHT BE DEALING DRUGS / CALLER ASKED TO DISREGARD AND SAID IT WAS NOT A PERSON AND IT WAS JUST A SIGN THAT HE WAS SEEING.”
Scene obtained the audio from that call this morning and, yup, it’s exactly as it was described.
The caller’s confidence begins to unravel about a minute in when the dispatcher asks the race of the suspect. After a long pause, the man realizes he may have it all wrong, dejectedly changing his story: “Ummm, I cant tell… you know what, I’m sorry, I think I might have a sign. That’s not a person, I don’t know what my son’s doing up there.”
Here’s a transcription of the call:
Dispatcher: “9-1-1, what’s the address of your emergency?”Caller: “It’s not an emergency, but it’s Madison and west—”
Dispatcher: “Can I get you to hold on a second if it’s not an emergency?”
Caller: “alright”
(Pause)
Dispatcher: “Ok, I apologize. Where are you at?”
Caller: “Woodward and Madison, there is a man in a white t-shirt and I believe he’s dealing drugs on the corner.”
Dispatcher: “Did you see drugs, or — what do you see?”
Caller: “You wanna know the truth, my son just walked in a loopty loop around there.”
Dispatcher: “He said Woodward and Madison?”
Caller: “Yeah, and he’s wearing a white t-shirt right on the corner.”
Dispatcher: “White, black or hispanic? (pause) Is he white, black or hispanic, sir?”
Caller: “Ummm, I can’t tell. (pause) You know what, I’m sorry, I think I might have a sign.”
Dispatcher: “You might have what?”
Caller: “That’s not a person, I don’t know what my son’s doing up there. I’m sorry, can we cancel that?”
Dispatcher: “Ok, so it’s not a person that’s standing there?”
Caller: “No, it’s my fault, my son’s playing games with me. I’ll take care of it.”
Dispatcher: “So you don’t need an officer for anything?”
Caller: “No thanks.”
Dispatcher: “Ok.”
Caller: “Sorry”
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2014.
must have been pretty baked
That is the most patient, polite 911 operator I ever heard of.
That guy must have been smoking some purple.
So I’m guessing that the drug dealer out there was actually his son? Or maybe, like other people think, this guy was baked out of his mind and the sun was crying rainbows and all other sorts of crazy stuff was happening.
Its a cherry picked call, every 911 (know as PSAP) has these kinds of calls all the time. They have there “regulars”. It is almost certain they already knew the person who was calling. These callers will disguise there phone so they cant be easily tracked down. They try to disguise there voice but the dispatcher always figures it out. They will have a series of PSAP’s they will work. They will compulsively turn in drug dealers/pot smokers, perverts, loose pit bulls, etc. Anything that will get a police response. Usually these are false calls. This kind of thing is very common.