"I wanted to order a pizza": woman calls 911 and uses code language to escape domestic abuse
This isn't the first time a 911 telephone operator has received a call to order a pizza, and it's certainly not a question of having the wrong number. Many of the people who call this emergency number are women who find themselves in the terrifying situation of domestic abuse, at the mercy of cohabitants or partners who are violent, abusive and who constantly jeopardize the physical and psychological health of their wife or partner. You will never forget the story we are about to tell you today ...
via CNN
This incredible story happened to Tim Teneyck, a man from Oregon in the United States, who for 14 years has worked as a telephone operator for 911, a phone number for all American citizens asking for help with various types of emergencies. The strangest call, however, came when Tim picked up the phone and heard a stentorian female voice that literally stated: "I'd like to order a pizza"
Tim couldn't believe his ears: had that woman really asked for a pizza order? Was she really that confused?
Tim couldn't quite believe his ears, so he decided to figure out if the woman had really mistaken the number she had dialed on her phone. On the other side of the phone, however, there seems to be no hesitation, so much so that the woman did not think twice and she gave her personal number and home address to Tim, who was more and more convinced of her "order."
In reality it was all a coded message: that poor woman on the other end of the phone hadn't got the wrong number at all, she had deliberately called 911 using the secret pizza code, which usually used by domestic abuse victims who don't know how to ask for help in a private and safe way ...
Tim finally understood the situation and could not help but start using a coded language to get more information from the woman on the phone, as she was in a situation where she was unable to communicate freely; the operator, who had worked at the 911 call center for 14 years and had never received such an unusual "request", continued to use an apparently harmless code language with the woman on the other end of the handset, and in the meantime he was trying to send a patrol of policemen to this address, with the sirens off so as not to attract the attention of the violent partner.
When the officers arrived at the scene they discovered that the problem was not the partner of the woman who had "ordered the pizza" but the mother's boyfriend, who had come home drunk and was harassing and beating the old lady; Fortunately, Tim had quickly realized that the situation was not at all safe and had immediately sent a patrol to the predetermined address.
A "pizza" that saved one life and could save many others in the future!
