MORRISVILLE, Pa. February 1, 2008 A car was crushing a man to death, and time was running out. It was a rescue that would take quick thinking and calm nerves, and it was all caught on a 911 emergency tape. The call begins with unintelligible screaming and heavy breathing. "911, where's your emergency?" the dispatcher asked. "I'm at Pic-A-Part," said the caller before more words that are difficult to make out. "Where at sir? I can't hear you," the dispatcher said. The desperate call for help was made on a cell phone. But the man could barely tell the dispatcher he was at a Morrisville, Bucks County junkyard. Nevertheless, the dispatcher gets a hint of what's going on within moments. "A car just fell on me," the caller said. "A car hit you?" the dispatcher asked. "Yeah," said the man, breathing heavily. But where the car landed painted an even more chilling picture. "A car fell on my face," said the caller. "A car fell on your face?" the dispatcher asked back. "Yeah, it fell on me, yeah," the man said. The dispatcher sent police to the Pic-A-Part junkyard, but the man couldn't say exactly where he was located. That meant police and firefighters had to scour a junkyard filled with thousands of cars, all while the dispatcher tried to keep the man alive. "Sir, if you can hear me, if you have any blood in your mouth just try to spit it out and try to position your body -- I know it's tough. They've been on their way. I know it's real tough, sir," the female dispatcher told the caller. But the longer the weight of the BMW pressed on the man's head, the more desperate and panicked he became. "I'm gonna," the dispatcher began, the rest of her sentence drowned out by the caller's screams.. "Listen to me, I'm gonna -- listen to me. I promise I'm gonna stay on the phone with you, OK?" she told him. Staying calm under pressure, the dispatcher followed a Falls Township police officer's quick-witted plan. The officer told her to listen for his police siren. It would indicate when he was getting closer to the man and his cell phone. "I hear a siren now. A faint siren. Sir, I hear the siren. They are looking for you right now," the dispatcher said over the line. "Yeah, it's louder," she said as police apparently neared the trapped man. The plan worked. "That's a 2004 Mitsubishi", said Mark Wassum, the 20-year-old man who was trapped.
Rating: (1 ratings) |
Views: 268 |
Added: Feb 2, 2008 |
| Category: |
Author: beck64 |
|
|