Police fed up with toddler's repeated 911 calls
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) - Emergency dispatchers in Astoria are tired of answering calls from the 1-year-old daughter of Jessica May.
The toddler dialed 911 a total of seven times last Thursday and nine other times before that, dating back to January.
May told KGW she was in the bathroom Thursday when her daughter Ayla found her phone and started playing.
After the sixth call, an officer gave May a warning. But when it happened again, she was cited for abusing 911. If convicted, she could face up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine.
The toddler dialed 911 a total of seven times last Thursday and nine other times before that, dating back to January.
May told KGW she was in the bathroom Thursday when her daughter Ayla found her phone and started playing.
After the sixth call, an officer gave May a warning. But when it happened again, she was cited for abusing 911. If convicted, she could face up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine.
Parenting: Learn it.
If she cannot keep her cell phone away from a one year old baby USE PIN LOCK for heaven sake! Fine her and teach her how to use it... gosh she sounds like a real dim bulb....
They invented playpens to contain small children so you can use the bathroom without having to worry about baby grabby hands getting into stuff while you're occupied.
I give kudos that the one year old knows how to call for help when needed. I am going to assume that the mother is having a hard time in life right now and can't afford a toy phone for her child to play with. If that is the case, I got a crap load of toys here she can have.Â
She should've been fined after the second call!! How hard is it to keep a phone out of reach of a 1 year old?!?!
@Seattleite Parenting FAIL.
did you see they even gave the moms name
Don't worry, the kid was just getting used to the feel of mom's new Obamaphone. Â
Disclaimer:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/31/adam-putnam/putnam-obama-campaign-gives-free-cell-phones-suppo/
Wait till that kid gets a hold of a butter knife.
How stupid must you be to let that happen, not 1, not 2, but 16 times? Â How often is this person going to the bathroom and for that long enough to let a 1 year old dial specifically 911 successfully each time?
Slap the $6000. Â Maybe a hefty fine will teach mom to put the damn phone out of reach of the child...Â
Amazing. Simply amazing. When my kids were young, things that they didn't need to touch were out of their reach or put away. Then when they were old enough to know better, they knew better! And yes, kids will still get in to things they shouldn't from time to time, but over and over? I wonder what will actually make this mom learn.
Looks like yet another teenage single mom without a clue, from reading the KGW article.Â
I would just bring the phone with me into the bathroom. Problem solved? hehe
Or bring the little girl to the bathroom, or get a little playpen to put her in when nature calls. They can get into mischief in the blink of an eye!
@lovestolearnÂ
You joke, but I'm appalled by the number of people who actually ANSWER their phones while in the bathroom, including public restrooms. If I'm sitting in the next stall, I'm almost embarrassed to make any "noise" or to flush. Then I realize that THEY should be the ones to be embarrassed, not me!
@Central Well, mom could just chose NOT to answer the phone while she is in the bathroom. Just because the thing rings doesn't mean you HAVE TO answer it right then and there. That is what voice mail is for. Lousy mom is just making excuses, passing the blame.
@Central @lovestolearn I would still take it in the bathroom with me so the toddler could not get to it, but not answer it! I always wondered how people are not embarrassed to answer their phones in public restrooms.
I see little kids on shopping carts playing with their parents' phones all the time. The same thing with their keys that have the key fob on them that sets off their car alarms in the parking lot. I cringe every time and it is all I can do to hold my tongue and keep from going all Mama on them (the parents). What ever happened to plastic keys and pretend phones? That's what my son had to play with, and it was all he needed.
@here_I_go_againÂ
I admit my son had "real" ketys - just not MY real keys. He liked the metal-on-metal sound, so I went to the local locksmit and bought a dozen "rejected" keys, put them on a ring for him. That way he had "his" keys, just like Mom had her keys when we went out.
@LocalLady So it is ok to give a child real keys to play with but not a real phone?
@Tattooed_Angel Real keys aren't dangerous. Inattentive parents are.
@Tattooed_Angel Keys won't dial 911.
@here_I_go_again Actually, real keys can be dangerous for little ones. Years ago a coworker of mine stopped into work with her little one to pick up her check. She let her baby play with her keys while she was chatting with her boss. She turned her back for a second and her little one stuck one of the keys into an outlet. Sparks flew and it shocked the baby, but luckily it wasn't bad.Â
Phones aren't dangerous but metal keys are.
%s Real keys and real phones are not even in the same category. Real keys are harmless as long as you don't have your car alarm tied to your electronic door opener (aka "key fob") on the ring. Everybody gave their kids real keys to play with years ago before we all had car alarms. I had a set of old ones in my son's kitchen play drawer when he was little
What's going on in that bathroom?
@KOMO_Sapiens She might have been in the shower. That takes more than a minute for most people. Putting baby in a playpen would be a good idea.
That's weird. What phone did she find? A land line or cell? I know on my cell it makes you confirm that you want to call 911. Either way, the the first warning should have been the last.
A little advice for mom: 1. Be smarter than a one year old.  2. Supervise your child. 3. Keep the phone out of your child's reach.    I can see if it happens once or twice -- crap happens and I know you can't watch them every second of every day -- kids will get into things. But since this has happened several times, and the mother for some reason is incapable of being able to resolve this simple issue, it really makes me question her competence. This situation has red flags written all over it.
Kind of makes you wonder what kind of supervision that 1 year old is getting? Â Leaving her alone long enough to make repeated calls like that? The Police are correct in their response to this. Â You don't leave your 1 year old like that, even if you're in the bathroom. Â
Fines should be automatically imposed. Scr3w that "could face up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine" B.S. It's a waste of time and precious resources and the actions of a neglectful parent. 7 times in a day is way too much to have simply been 'an accident'.
@what? This woman is probably on state benefits. I wonder if the state can legally even touch welfare benefits to recover fines like this...
@lakeview @what? Maybe not however they can put a lien on her car(s), garnish wages if any, go after her bank account... They can find a way if they want to.
@lakeview That is what community service is for--if you aren't aware enough to keep your toddler from doing stuff like this, and you can't pay the fines--you do the time on community service. There are alternative ways to get the message across to most people that they need to change their ways.
@what? @lakeview Maybe. Not sure what that will accomplish though if she is already "on the dole." What do we gain from making her struggle more? Tough situation.Â
If the average person only knew the time and cost involved in these types of calls ... Get them a toy phone and put the real equipment AWAY........................................
The Mom was given a warning before she was finally assessed a fine.  Too bad for her. You didn't handle the problem accordingly, so PAY UP!!!!Â
A child doing this ONCE shoudn't result in a fine,  just educated, but this one is ridiculous. The Mom clearly wasn't properly supervising her little one. She's lucky the child chose the phone to play with, rather than a hot stove, or a sharp knife.Â
Honestly, how hard can it be to keep a phone out of the hands of a toddler?? Instead of threatening the mother with jail time just start charging her for every phony call and make the fines increasingly more expensive. Also a visit from the local police department might help hammer home the point that this is NOT to be taken lightly.
Maybe the kid's smarter than you think, and realizes that if she needs help, good to get on the waiting list early....
My little girl did this once when she was about 18 months old. I was taking a test for one of my online classes and my little girl was playing in her castle. She was gibber gabbering away and I didn't think anything of it. As soon as I got my test done I went to crawl into her castle with her and noticed that she was talking on my old cell phone that has no cell service. Then I hear someone on the other line! Turns out she had hit the correct buttons to make an "emergency call" and had been chatting with a police dispatcher for 7 minutes. I grabbed the phone, apologizing profusely, and the dispatcher reamed me a new one. Then she told me I had an adorable, chatty little one.Â
After that incident I went around the house and removed all the batteries from all my old cell phones that she plays with. Hasn't happened since.
@Tattooed_AngelÂ
But see, that is still part of the problem. Letting little ones "play" with old phones as if they are toys. They then associate the phone with simply being just abother toy, they do not have the mental capabilities to distinguish between the phone they can play with at home and any other phone being "off limits". A phone is a phone - and it's a toy in their mind.Â
I never let my son "play" with a phone while he was very young (although he did get into my bedroom one summer & take my alarm clock for a swim, killing it - he liked the music it played, until it got dunked in the wading pool when his Dad was supposed to be watching him).
Kids have imaginations, they have an abundance of toys of all sorts - do they REALLY need phones to play with?
@LocalLady I have no problem whatsoever with letting my little one play with my old phones. The phones aren't getting any use anyway so why not? I have taught my little girl that Mama's phone is off-limits and she has her own phone. She understands that and doesn't touch my phone nor my son's phone.Â
I don't care how old your children are, they are never too young to start learning what is ok and what isn't. By 2 years old my little girl was picking up all her toys and putting them away before bed. My house is "semi" childproof, but I focus more on teaching my child what not to touch because not every place we go is going to be childproof.@Tattooed_Angel See, exactly. Once. Once or twice is totally excusable. LOTS of kids do it once to see what will happen, I know I did. But this woman... Yeah. Wow.
This is irritating. People having children and not supervising them. What an idiot parent.
Who is going to jail? The mother or the toddler? If they throw the mother in jail, will she take her toddler with her? LOL
@Mr. HÂ *eye roll* If the mother goes to jail and has no one to take care of her daughter then she becomes a temporary ward of the state. I am not even going to waste my time answering the question about the baby because a) I think you know better and b) what a ridiculous question to ask; even if meant as a joke.
@PrairieDawn , you are such a kill joy. Joking is a great release for dumb issues like this. Then people like you come along and take all the fun out of this type of activity. Park it Prairie, you're just a PUTZ.
if it happens again how about requiring parenting classes ?Â
@justme I was just going to say the same thing. A few surprise home visits and parenting classes are in order for this mom. It is possible to do what you need to do and keep the child safe if you know what you are doing. Parenting is not necessarily everyone is cut out for and is not some kind of knowledge you are born with or gifted with by getting pregnant. It is work and it is hard and you need to learn as much as you can before the little one is born. Women like these that have kids just because they can bug me in a big way, they add to the problems in society, putting the burden on everyone else to help raise the child in every way. Then when the kid turns out wild due to lack of parenting, we get a criminal on our hands. Or worse, the poor little one is hurt and worse, sometimes killed by the very people she should have trusted. Grr, okay, going to go calm myself now.
Nice job teaching boundaries Mom. Even my dog knows what "leave it" means and leaves whatever it is alone. What else is her kid going to get into?
Good, sometimes stupidity is expensive and hurts. Not nearly often enough, but sometimes. As the mother, she's responsible for her child's behavior.....911 misuse keeps people from getting the help that truly need it.
@dg54321 Amen to that sometimes hours... preventing people of getting help that really need it.