911 Op. to Teen Reporting Dad Fatally Injured: Stop Whining

[redheadbaker]

911 Operator to Teen Whose Dad Is Fatally Hit: "Stop Whining"

A 911 operator told a teenage girl to "stop whining" just after her father was fatally struck by a car as he tried to change a flat tire along the Baltimore Washington Parkway last weekend.

Rick Warrick, 38, and his fiancee were taking his two teenage children to Dave & Buster's at the Arundel Mills mall when their tire went flat on the BW Parkway in Anne Arundel County.

Warrick, a car salesman from D.C., and his fiancee pulled to the shoulder and got out of their 2007 Hyundai Sonata to change the tire. Warrick had gotten the doughnut onto the car and was tightening the lugs around 9:15 p.m. when they were both struck by a car that did not stop.

Warrick's fiancee, 28-year-old Julia Pearce, suffered two broken legs, a broken pelvis and a fractured skull. She tried to encourage Warrick to keep breathing, but he died at the scene.

News4's Pat Collins obtained the audio from Warrick's teenage daughter's 911 call.

"Can y'all please hurry up!" the teen asks.

"Ma'am, stop yelling, I need a location," the operator said. The girl then tells him they're situated along I-295.

"OK, 295, that's good. We're located now on a highway. Now that's a pretty long road," he says.

The teen then says two people were struck.

"Yes, they both..."

"OK, let's stop whining. OK, let's stop whining. It's hard to understand you... two people were struck, correct?" the operator said.

When the teen describes that her father and his fiancee are motionless and lying on the ground, the operator asks to talk to someone else.

"Is there someone else there I can talk to, because it's so hard..."

The teen then explains the only other conscious person is her young brother.

Russ Davis with the Anne Arundel County Fire Department admitted the operator used a poor choice of words.

"However, what he was attempting to do was to get her attention, to start ascertaining information from her," Davis said. "It was pretty clear at that point they didn't know where they were."

He added the situation could have been handled differently.

"There could be a better choice of words."

The driver who struck Warrick and his fiancee has not yet come forward.

"It's hard on me, and I think the right thing will be to do just to turn yourself in. Accidents happen and we understand," said Warrick's mother, Scharmaine Ferrell-Anthony. "It was a tragic accident."

www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/911-Operator-in-Fatal-Crash-Stop-Whining-Rick-Warrick-BW-Parkway-290707301.html

[thejackpot]

I realize 911 operator has to be a rough job but couldn't she get the answers she wanted without belittling the caller.
It is so disturbing that people can hit someone else and then go on their merry way. Just awful.

[downtoearth]

This is a terrible tragedy - so horrible that someone just ran over a couple and took off. I think this 911 attendant is going to get reprimanded for her comments, man, every one of your calls is recorded, so you'd think they would know not to be rude to callers.

[pixy0stix]

Sometimes you use those words to snap person out of what they're doing and get them to focus on the task at hand. It's not rude, it's not belittling, it's trying anything to get them to articulate where they are.

[orangeblossom]

Feb 4, 2015 10:15:04 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sometimes you use those words to snap person out of what they're doing and get them to focus on the task at hand. It's not rude, it's not belittling, it's trying anything to get them to articulate where they are.

I saw this earlier, and while it was not the best choice of words, he was trying to get their attention, and sometimes you have to be extreme to get th focused.

[omgzombies]

Whining was definitely a poor choice of words, "I need you to calm down" would obviously have been much better. But I think the operators primary responsibility is to get help to the scene as quickly as necessary, sometimes a little harshness can help snap a person out of incoherence and help get them back on track so they can give you the information you need. It doesn't really help if you're incredibly nice on the phone and the poor teen is sobbing and can't tell you where they are at, and both people die because no one knows where they are.

[charminglife]

Feb 4, 2015 10:15:04 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sometimes you use those words to snap person out of what they're doing and get them to focus on the task at hand. It's not rude, it's not belittling, it's trying anything to get them to articulate where they are.

That's what I was thinking.  

Also, that's a tough road to drive at night - there's not a lot of light and people drive way over the speed limit.  What a tragedy.

[dirtyred]

Feb 4, 2015 10:22:51 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

Whining was definitely a poor choice of words, "I need you to calm down" would obviously have been much better. But I think the operators primary responsibility is to get help to the scene as quickly as necessary, sometimes a little harshness can help snap a person out of incoherence and help get them back on track so they can give you the information you need. It doesn't really help if you're incredibly nice on the phone and the poor teen is sobbing and can't tell you where they are at, and both people die because no one knows where they are.

Telling someone whose loved one has been hit by a car that they "need to calm down" actually can be counterproductive, because then they feel the need to justify the emotion ("My father was just run over by a car!  How can you expect me to be calm?!") and it can wind them up even more.

[penguingrrl]

Feb 4, 2015 10:15:04 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sometimes you use those words to snap person out of what they're doing and get them to focus on the task at hand. It's not rude, it's not belittling, it's trying anything to get them to articulate where they are.

I was thinking the same thing. I came into this post expecting to be appalled, but it sounds to me like the 911 operator was trying her hardest to get the necessary information so she could help the injured. 

[omgzombies]

Feb 4, 2015 10:31:30 GMT -5 @mx said:

That poor kid. I've always found 911 operators to be very patient and professional, she could have chosen different words, did she ask him to look for a mile marker or other landmark?

Both the article and the news report cut out most of the conversation.  Snippets of the conversation were pulled out, two lines here, two lines there, but it's very hard to get any real context, which makes me side eye the whole thing even more.  

[wawa]

You know, I get that this girl probably had to be snapped out of her initial reaction....but....I've called 911 a number of times to report accidents - and given what I do, I like to think I'm pretty good at concisely stating locations along roadways - and yet EVERY SINGLE TIME the operator has been rude as fuck to me and asked idiotic questions. And I've not been a hysterical teen who just watched her father die - just a witness to random crashes.

They've all been in the same rough area as the crash in this article. So...Maybe the local 911 operators just need some better training.

I mean seriously - the last one went like this:
I'm calling to report a single vehicle rollover crash located on the ramp from southbound Route 2 to Eastbound Route 100."
M'am where, did you say the crash was, on route 2?
On the ramp traveling FROM southbound route 2 TO eastbound route 100.
So the crash is on Route 100?
The crash is on the RAMP between Rt 2 and Rt 100.
Ok, so the crash is on the ramp. Can you give me a mile marker?
THERE ARE NO MILE MARKERS POSTED ON RAMPS. I AM ON THE RAMP. THE CRASH IS ON THE RAMP.
M'am I'm going to ask you to calm down.

I almost hung up at that point out of sheer frustration.
That's just the most recent example. Every other time I've called to report a crash around here (which is weirdly often? I have bad luck when it comes to people directly in front of me randomly running off the road) it's been a similar experience.

[ohyouknow]

I heard the audio of this phone call on the way to work this morning (it's local to me). The 911 operator was rude. The girl was coherent. She had a slightly whiney teenager-ish tone, but I thought he was inappropriate. She wasn't hysterical or bawling or anything like that.

[omgzombies]

Feb 4, 2015 10:44:04 GMT -5 ohyouknow said:

I heard the audio of this phone call on the way to work this morning (it's local to me). The 911 operator was rude. The girl was coherent. She had a slightly whiney teenager-ish tone, but I thought he was inappropriate. She wasn't hysterical or bawling or anything like that.

Was there more on the phone call than the snippets they had in the video?  Because from what they aired, it really didn't sound rude.  He asked her whether two people were struck, and she says yes, and then starts repeating "They're laying there, they're just laying there" over and over again."  It really did sound to me like she was hysterical.  Not crying hysterical like you see in the movies, but hysterical as in unable to focus on his questions and giving him information.  She was in shock.  And the tone the operator used is similar to the same one I use with a child when they are trying to tell you something but they can't because they are crying too hard.  Very matter of fact, with little or no emotion, because that's what gets them to calm down the quickest.

[WOT?*]

The tone was fine, the words were not. I deal with two girls with some emotional issues who have the (not so) occasional meltdown.
"Quit whining" is as inappropriate as all get out in the situation, whether it be a teenager or an adult. "I need you to calm down now. Take a breath and calm down." is entirely as simple to say and completely more appropriate than "quit whining." If snappy is warranted, it doesn't need to be denigrating as well.

(As an aside, I worked PI for ten years and was involved in several horrific cases, one of which was a gentleman who was in an accident on the freeway. He got out of his car and was looking at the damage when he was struck by a passing vehicle. If her dad's death was anything like those photos, damn straight she'd be hysterical. I'm impressed by how calm she actually was all things considered.)