15 Stories of 911 Responders Sharing The Call That He/She Will Never Forget

On December 15, Reddit user u/catsugh asked fellow Redditors who are part of the r/AskReddit Community, “911 responders, what is a call that you will never forget?” In an instant, the Reddit thread went quickly viral and as of December 26, has over 5,800 responses.

Please note that these stories are a mix of light-hearted ones and tragic and sad ones. Now, with all of that being said, take a look down below and check out the following 15 Stories of 911 Responders Sharing The Call That He/She Will Never Forget:

1. 911 Call Stories #1 – The One Where The Thief Killed The 911 Caller:

“Man called to report a male was breaking into his neighbors vehicle across the street. A few minutes into the call the man came and started to break into the callers vehicle. A few minutes later the man spotted my caller and broke into his house from the window. Spent 10 minutes listening to physical fight when I finally heard the police enter the house and say “there’s blood everywhere.” Both intruder and caller died. Oh, and another 911 dispatcher had my callers wife and kids on another line who were hiding upstairs and heard everything.

I talked a lot of people who were shot/stabbed/beaten in the final moments of their lives but you usually get them after the situation occurred. This caller was just trying to look out for his neighbor and I spent a good 15-20 minutes bantering while waiting for officers to arrive and get the auto thief. Getting to joke around and get to know someone’s personality before they violently die hit a lot different than taking a call after violence had occurred.”

-Redditor meshellella

2. 911 Call Stories #2 – The Motorcycle Clutch Lever:

“Harley motorcycle tipped over and the clutch lever went into a 4 year old’s eye. Parent was on the line asking what to do. Suddenly, she said, “They’re going lift the motorcycle.” I emphatically told her to tell them to stop and wait for rescue and EMS. Rescue ended up cutting off the clutch lever and transporting the kid to hospital. She underwent surgery. That was 1982. Just last year, I met the lead rescue officer and the girl herself, now fully grown. They wanted to meet the 911 operator that saved her vision.”

-Redditor shadow_carlson

3. 911 Call Stories #3 – The Quiet Acceptance of Death:

“Someone called stating they had seen a man on a small island on the lake hours ago but now the man was gone and his boat is still out there.

An older woman called in a half hour later stating her husband had gone missing, he was last seen taking his boat out on the lake sometime overnight. The increasing tension in her voice as she noticed sheriff’s deputies were already dredging the lake was something else. She was calm but clearly actively dealing with the fact her husband was likely dead. They found his body not long after I hung up with her.

Sometimes it’s the people screaming that get to you, sometimes its the quiet acceptance of a horrible truth that stays with you longer.”

-Redditor GameDrain

4. 911 Call Stories #4 – The Plant Thief:

“A lighthearted one – my friend got a call from a very cross sounding old lady that was absolutely furious because her neighbors had stolen her plants. When my friend asked her how she knew it was them, the woman said “because there’s holes in my yard and She planted them in her fucking garden! I’m going to go take them back, I have a shovel, and you probably wont get here in time to do anything about it!”

Thank goodness it was a slow day because my friend had to stay on the line for at least 15 minutes to convince her to wait for a cop to come by and talk to her neighbors for her.”

-Redditor cashil

5. 911 Call Stories #5 – The Caller Who Couldn’t Accept That His Wife Passed Away:

“This isn’t mine, but a friend of mine fielded this call. An elderly gentleman called 911 to notify them that his wife had passed in her sleep. Only it was like 7 o’clock at night. Apparently he just couldn’t deal with it emotionally, so he got her dressed, took her out to the car, and drove around doing his errands for the day. Watched some TV together. And then after 12 or so hours he finally sort of accepted that she was gone and called 911.”

-Redditor hysterymystery

6. 911 Call Stories #6 – The Way The Husband Responded To His Wife Wanting a Divorce:

“One of my officers told me a story of the strangest call hes responded to. A husband and wife are having massive problems and she wants gives him divorce papers. He takes them, walks into his garage/workshop and just calmly cuts his hand off with a table saw. My officer said he was the first medic on scene and the guy was incredibly calm as if not happened. They managed to reattach his hand after a long surgery.”

-Redditor shamaze

7. 911 Call Stories #7 – The Suicide Calls:

“Police dispatch here… Call started like this… Caller: is this line recorded? Me: yes, all our calls are recorded Caller: ok, I just want it recorded so my wife and kid know I love them. click

Eventually got him back on the phone, turned into a huge stand off. Said he had a gun and was going to shoot himself so officers were hanging back while we talked. He was parked right beside the train tracks so had to shut them down as well. Ended up with him surrendering and going to hospital. But that tone of voice and commitment….

Another one: wife gets home from dropping her kids off at school and finds a note on the counter “don’t look in the garage, just call the police.” Husband had killed himself in the night. She was pretty hysterical waiting for us to get there.

-Redditor hsvc

8. 911 Call Stories #8 – Two Stories in One Post:

“Man blew his face off with a shotgun. Wasn’t dead yet. Scary shit.

Also, a couple weeks ago I responded to a woman in labor. Get on scene, she had just delivered. She was naked and holding the baby with the cord still coming out of her vagina. She was high as hell and trying to shoot up one last time before she went with us. With her bloodstream still feeding the baby through the cord.”

-Redditor dummy_devil_doll

9. 911 Call Stories #9 – The 400 Pound Man:

“My friend is a first responder. He once got a call about a man that had fallen in the shower. He gets there and the guy is over 400 pounds and out cold on the bathroom floor. My friend, his partner and the guys roommate try everything they can think of to get the guy on the stretcher, but the bathroom is tiny and they can’t even roll him over. Eventually they call two more ambulances and finally get the guy out of the bathroom.

They get to the elevator and it’s too small to fit the guy on the stretcher. So six paramedics have to carry the guy down five flights of stairs.

My friend called in sick for the rest of the week cause he was so sore and stiff, he couldn’t move.”

-Redditor idontdigdinasours

I Literally Almost Ran Into Paul McCartney

10. 911 Call Stories #10 – A Homeless Man’s Horrific Suicide:

“Homeless guy put his head on the subway tracks. Clean cut, head ended up on the other side of tracks and less blood came out than I expected.”

-Redditor BlessedMans

11. 911 Call Stories #11 – The Toothbrush:

“Dude lost his toothbrush in the toilet, he then decided that instead of buying another 2$ toothbrush he would fish his toothbrush out of the toilet and boil it to decontaminate it. – Which he promptly forgot about. So the water boiled away and the toothbrush melted in the pot leading to smoke, the fire alarm went off and it was really hard to keep a straight face when we got the story had to send out a truck to rescue him along with issuing a hefty ticket.”

-Redditor Pasan90

12. 911 Call Stories #12 – The Daughter and Step-father Stabbings:

“I once had a call from a 11 year old girl who was just stabbed by her stepfather, she kick him in the balls and went to hide and call 911. She was scared and I stayed on the line until her stepfather found her. The last thing I heard was her yelling no please don’t do it again. Then I heard an angry yell then gurgling. Turns out he stabbed her in the neck one minute before the police got there. I quit the next day.”

-Redditor nonsensicalsymbiosis

13. 911 Call Stories #13 – Ran Over By a Lawnmower

“Little 4 year old girl got ran over by her grandmother with a lawnmower that was on. It was not the gore or the blood that got me, it was the utter panic of the family, and the way they broke down when the helicopter took off with her inside.”

-Redditor LoanSurvivor19

14. 911 Call Stories #14 – The Frozen Turkey:

“Instead of bringing up a fucked up call I’ll bring up a funny one. We went for a call to meet the police for an assault, we get there the guy had been assaulted with a frozen turkey. Whacked over the head with it. Big lump already formed. Guy had gotten into an argument with his old lady and she bopped him upside the head with the bird. He ended up fighting the cops and his wife and mother tried to jump in so I’m holding them back as the cops are wrestling with him. Cops ended up transporting him so we cleared and went back in service. Turns out the same guy had gotten whacked in the head by a 2×4 the week prior too.”

-Redditor thefalconator

15. 911 Call Stories #15 – The One With The Really Tragic Ending:

“Car wreck, late night heavily forested mountain road. Drunk woman flying down the highway, lost control and flipped the car multiple times. We arrive and shes unconscious, boarded and shipped. After about 45 minutes, we’re gearing up to leave is when we find the empty baby car seat.

Took another 45 minutes to find the body.”

-Redditor lionofwar