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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
911 Response Stories
Aired August 12, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening.
"911: Lives on the Line." A special edition of 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): "911: Lives on the Line." A 360 investigation into what works and what doesn't when you dial 911. Tonight, how the emergency response system is under pressure like never before, cell phones, Internet phones. We'll help get to you when you need it most.
A first-time mom makes a desperate call to 911. Hear how a quick-thinking dispatcher helped this frantic mom save her baby's life.
911 abuse. How crank callers are wasting precious time and endangering all of us. Tonight, a hoax that put other lives in jeopardy.
And the remarkable story of this dog, who used her nose to dial 911 and barked for help. How is that possible? Find out tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Good evening. Welcome to a special edition of 360.
One of the first things many parents teach their young kids is, when you need help, dial 911. It's a nationwide panic button. Every day, 911 operators receive half a million calls. And the fact that we rely so heavily on the system means, these days, it is under greater strain than perhaps ever before.
It's not just the volume of calls. In some cases, new technology, like cell phones and Internet phones, have created problems that have yet to be resolved. For the next hour, we're going to be focusing in-depth on our 911 system.
We're going to have some remarkable stories of how it has saved lives and some equally remarkable ones of how the technology has failed and how it's sometimes being abused in ways that endanger us all.
CNN's Rick Sanchez is going to take us inside the emergency response system in Miami. Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is 19 minutes past midnight. A woman from this house calls police to report an emergency.
(on-screen): You can hear the siren going. It means that we've just received a 326. That means there's a burglary in progress. And we're racing to it as we speak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: There is much to cover in this hour. We begin with a story where everything worked as it should, the story of a horrible explosion, a badly injured victim with a tenuous phone connection, and a 911 operator who refused to hang up.
Here's CNN's Adaora Udoji.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER ROHAN, PETCO EXPLOSION SURVIVOR: Hi. I'm in the Eatontown explosion at Petco.
ANTHONY CELANO, 911 DISPATCHER: Are you stuck inside the building?
ROHAN: I'm stuck inside the building.
CELANO: Where are you? Where are you in the building?
ROHAN: I don't know. I'm underneath all this rubble.
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jennifer Rohan was trapped under tons of debris. The New Jersey Petco store where she worked had exploded. The devastation so powerful the roof plunged to the basement, taking her down, too.
ROHAN: I remember hearing it. I remember being, "Oh, my god." And then I kind of felt like my body was on a roller coaster without the benefit of the roller coaster being there. So I remember actually just lifting off the ground.
UDOJI: Miraculously, Jennifer's cellphone survived the crash. Miraculously, she was conscious. Within minutes, she was talking to Mammoth County 911 dispatcher Anthony Celano.
ROHAN: Please save me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, ma'am.
CELANO: Jennifer?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jennifer, stay with us.
ROHAN: I don't want to die.
CELANO: All right. We're not going to let that happen. Stay on the line with me, OK?
ROHAN: Help!
UDOJI: Jennifer could hear dozens of firefighters combing through the wreckage. But they could not hear her. In shock and badly injured, she started losing hope.
ROHAN: I got to get another phone call, hold on please.
CELANO: No, Jennifer, don't worry about that phone call, OK?
ROHAN: Huh?
CELANO: Don't worry about the phone ringing. Keep me on the line, OK?
ROHAN: I would like to say good-bye to my loved ones.
CELANO: No, Jennifer, keep me on the line, OK?
UDOJI: Anthony assured her for 51 minutes, the longest call of his five-year career, while guiding firefighters. She remembers every minute.
ROHAN: He remained calm and, you know, kept me very calm, as well, and kept me awake, and kept me off the phone with my friends, who would have probably gotten me into a panic.
CELANO: Inside, I was anxious and nervous and -- so it was...
UDOJI (on-screen): You were feeling anxious and nervous at the time. But you certainly didn't sound like it on the call.
CELANO: No, you can't let the person on the other end know that, you know -- you can't get upset. You can't, you know -- you don't want to yell at them. You don't want to raise your voice. You've just got to keep believing, even all the way through.
CELANO: Jennifer?
ROHAN: Yes?
CELANO: Stay with me, OK?
ROHAN: I'm trying.
CELANO: You think you're going to pass out?
ROHAN: I can't wiggle my fingers. One of them is split wide open.
UDOJI: Two months later, the scene looks very different. The building's been torn down. The debris taken away. And for the first time, Jennifer got to meet the man who helped her through those harrowing and uncertain moments before she was rescued.
ROHAN: Hey.
CELANO: How are you?
ROHAN: I'm all right. How are you doing?
CELANO: Good.
UDOJI (voice-over): Anthony didn't come empty-handed. Jennifer came in a wheelchair, still healing after losing part of her leg and part of a finger. She suffered the worst injuries of four people hurt in the explosion.
ROHAN: Thank you so much.
CELANO: No problem. I was glad I could help.
ROHAN: There's no doubt in my mind that, if I hadn't been able to get through to somebody, that I would not have made it through that. So I'm just very lucky I got Anthony.
CELANO: It's the first time I've ever talked to someone on a 911 call and actually met them in person. It kind of, I guess, came full circle now.
UDOJI: Investigators say the blast followed a natural gas leak caused by construction workers puncturing a nearby gas line. Pictures don't accurately capture the devastation. It's hard to believe no one died here, but back then Jennifer didn't think she would make it.
CELANO: Whatever you do, just stay as still as possible, OK? I don't want you to move.
ROHAN: OK. I'm having problems breathing now.
CELANO: OK. Do you have any debris laying across your chest?
ROHAN: I don't. I'm on my side.
There are so many people out there in our community that do things like Anthony does, and we never thank them, you know, the firemen, the policemen. You know, we never, ever thank them, and the 911 operators.
CELANO: It's always interesting.
UDOJI: Anthony refuses to take all the credit.
CELANO: Everybody did an awesome job. I mean there was, I guess, about 15 to 20 fire departments out there, all the police and the state troopers. We kicked butt.
UDOJI: Voices Jennifer was thrilled to hear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Jen?
ROHAN: Yes? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have to cut your coat.
ROHAN: Whatever makes you happy, dude.
Thank you again. So much.
UDOJI: They helped her make it out alive. And she will always be thankful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UDOJI: Jennifer Rohan is now suing the companies involved in that construction work. Reportedly at least one has said they had no idea the gas line was actually there.
Now, the local prosecutor looked into the matter. He found no evidence of criminal conduct, but drew no conclusions as to which company was at fault for the blast. Rohan is also looking forward to returning to work, saying, Anderson, she simply cannot imagine her life without animals and her Petco store. There's a big sign out front saying that it will be back.
COOPER: I'm amazed that she was going to answer other phone calls while she was underneath the debris talking to the 911 operator. And I love that, at the end she says, you know, "Hey, whatever makes you happy, dude," to the firefighter. That was funny.
UDOJI: Very lucky lady.
COOPER: All right. Adaora Udoji, thanks.
Still to come on this special edition of 360, we're going to take you inside an emergency call center where life-or-death decisions are made every day, every hour, in a matter of seconds.
Also tonight, crying wolf. Pranksters abusing 911. How it endangers all of our lives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Heidi Collins. Good evening, everybody. Here's what's happening now in the news.
Columbus, Ohio. Former fugitives and husband and wife couple plan to fight attempts to extradite them back to Tennessee, where they face first-degree murder charges.
At a court hearing in Ohio today, a judge ordered escaped convict George Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer, jailed without bond. Authorities say Jennifer Hyatte ambushed two prison guards Tuesday as they were leading her husband from a courthouse in Kingston, Tennessee. She allegedly shot and killed one of the guards.
The Hyattes were arrested Wednesday night after police got a tip from a cab driver who had driven them hundreds of miles to Columbus, Ohio. And there you see Tropical Storm Irene gaining strength. The National Hurricane Center says Irene is just shy of becoming a hurricane. But it's not clear if she will make land. Experts say Irene could plow into the east coast between North Carolina and Massachusetts or veer out to sea.
Dramatic and previously unreleased details of 9/11. Following a court order, New York City's fire department released 15 hours of radio transmissions and thousands of pages of oral histories from the attacks. Independent investigators with access to the information already describe major communications flaws in New York's response to the attack.
And in Springfield, New Jersey, a freak accident at the PGA Championship. As Tiger Woods was walking up to the fourth green, a giant tree limb fell on a spectator, breaking his leg. The weather was clear at the time. The PGA tournament director said the red oak will be chopped down after today's rounds.
And that's the news for now. I'm Heidi Collins. I'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
COOPER: During this special edition of 360, you're going to hear several 911 success stories, hardworking dispatchers saving lives. But the 911 security blanket is not as safe as you might think, and people have died because of it.
Consider this: When making an emergency phone call from a home phone, the dispatchers generally know where that call is coming from. And that's crucial, in the case that the caller's in danger, perhaps a young child, or incapacitated and they can't actually describe where they are.
But you may be surprised to find out what happens when a cellphone is used to make a 911 call. It turns out only 40 percent of the 911 call centers in this country are equipped with technology that lets dispatchers know that your wireless phone number and where you are. And that's alarming, considering one quarter of calls made to 911 now come from cell phones.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim takes a look at one case in which the lives of people were literally on the line and police couldn't figure out where they were.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TWILLA HORNICKEL, JANELLE'S MOTHER: She was always smiling. I don't think we have any pictures where she wasn't smiling.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twilla Hornickel's 20-year-old daughter, Janelle, is now a memory, a picture of a smiling college student. It was here by this sandpit in eastern Nebraska I took a walk with Janelle's family, near the place where Janelle and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Michael Walmsley, died.
(on-screen): Does this spot make you feel sad? T. HORNICKEL: Sure. It really does. Mother's Day was real hard, because there's a big hole in our family.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The tragedy happened on January 4th in a blinding snowstorm. The couple was driving this pickup towards Omaha and got lost. They called for help with a cellphone Twilla had given to her daughter.
911 OPERATOR: Sarpy County, 911?
JANELLE HORNICKEL, DIED WITHOUT 911 ASSISTANCE: Hi, I'm here to report -- I feel very threatened.
911 OPERATOR: Hello?
J. HORNICKEL: Hello. I am by the Mandalay Apartment complexes.
911 OPERATOR: Are you in Omaha?
J. HORNICKEL: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: All right, let me transfer you. Stay on the line.
OPPENHEIM: The problem is, Hornickel and Walmsley were not in Omaha. They were in a neighboring county and very confused. Autopsies would later reveal they were high on methamphetamine.
SHERIFF JEFF DAVIS, SARPY COUNTY, NEBRASKA: Both had enough that their -- you know, the likelihood of them being able to find out where they were going or act rationally was gone.
OPPENHEIM: Michael Walmsley would do most of the talking during nearly two hours of calls to various 911 dispatchers. Presumably because he was impaired, the information he gave about where he was, was wrong.
911 OPERATOR: Describe to me, like, any of the street names that you've come across tonight, the last thing you remember seeing?
MICHAEL WALMSLEY, DIED WITHOUT 911 ASSISTANCE: All I know for sure is Poppleton, and then there's a couple blocks. Then there's the Poppleton apartments, then they got those other apartments...
911 OPERATOR: Poppleton is way north of Harrison. That's not anywhere near Gretna.
OPPENHEIM: One day after the anguishing 911 calls, Michael Walmsley's body was found frozen in the snow. Six days later, Janelle Hornickel's body was discovered. They'd left the safety of the pickup truck and walked into the cold weather.
WALMSLEY: OK, well, ma'am -- I don't know exactly, but I need help. I talk to them. I told the lady, and my phone's just about to die. You're my last chance here.
JAN HOWARD, JANELLE HORNICKEL'S SISTER: I would have liked to have stopped them. I would have liked to have known why they were out here. But the issue stands that they were. And with the drug use involved or not, if we could have found them, we could have dealt with that. But we were cheated out of that chance.
OPPENHEIM: As much as this case raised awareness about the destructive use of methamphetamine, it also brought attention to problems with cellphones in emergencies. Sarpy County officials say Walmsley and Hornickel might have been saved with what's called Phase 2 technology, the ability of 911 centers to receive location coordinates from cellphones and know where a caller is.
Consider that in some parts of Nebraska, 911 dispatchers can't locate a cellphone caller at all. That's called Phase 0.
(on-screen): But here in Sarpy County, dispatchers can do a little better than that, with Phase 1 technology. But still, that has its limits. We're going to give you a little demonstration here, and I'm going to dial 911.
911 OPERATOR: 911.
OPPENHEIM: Hi, this is Keith Oppenheim. Can you see the location of where I'm calling from?
911 OPERATOR: I can see the general area that you're in, but I do not know your exact location.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The dispatchers can read the address of the tower that my cell phone signal is reaching. But that only gives them a general idea of where I am, because they're not at phase 2. In other words, they can't pinpoint my exact location and realize that I'm calling them from just outside the dispatch center.
Walmsley and Hornickel were calling counties with Phase 1 ability, but it wasn't enough to find them. Ironically, had they been 25 miles to the east in Iowa, where Phase 2 is up and running, the call's location could have been picked up.
Such differences aren't unusual. According to the National Emergency Numbers Association, less than half of 911 centers in the U.S. can detect where a cellphone caller is. Now Nebraska's legislature has ordered a study to determine whether cellphone companies should charge an extra dollar a month to pay for the latest technology.
HOWARD: I don't think a lot of people understand that, with their cellphones, they are inaccessible.
OPPENHEIM: After her sister's death, Jan Howard appeared before a Nebraska legislative panel and testified that a surcharge to update 911 centers would make a dramatic difference.
HOWARD: And I was trying to show them how it was from our point, that I would have given anything to spend that $12 a year more to not have gone through what me and my family went through.
OPPENHEIM: And perhaps what two lost 20-year-olds went through can be a reminder...
911 OPERATOR: She's starting to lay down?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's not breathing. Please, can you come over here now?
OPPENHEIM: ... that the ability of emergency responders to help people in desperate trouble depends on their ability to find where the trouble is.
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Next in our special, "911: Lives on the Line," a woman's baby is dying and she calls 911 but can't get through because of her type of phone service. Could it happen to you? Find out.
And later, we'll take you inside an emergency call center where things get very tense very quickly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back to this special edition of 360.
You may be surprised to hear that at least a million Americans have chucked their regular home phones and signed up instead with an Internet-based phone service, one that sends your calls digitally through the web rather than through standard phone lines.
Now, the appeal is it's usually cheaper. But some of those internet phone services don't mesh with the 911 system. For example, with an internet phone service someone who's sitting in, say, Boise, Idaho, can be calling from a Boston area code. So when they call the 911 dispatcher, well, the dispatcher gets confused.
Some Internet phone services don't even connect their users to 911, or they route callers to non-emergency numbers, which may not even be staffed in off-hours. Cheryl Waller says that that is exactly what happened to her last March.
Her baby stopped breathing. She grabbed her Internet-based phone and dialed 911, unaware that she was being connected to a non- emergency phone number. By the time she ran to a neighbor's house to use their phone and help arrived, Cheryl's 3-month-old baby had died.
I spoke with Cheryl Waller and her attorney, Mike Smith.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Cheryl, thank you so much for being with us. I'm so sorry for your loss.
CHERYL WALLER, INTERNET PHONE USER: Thank you.
COOPER: I can only imagine how painful this is for you. But take us back to that night. You realized your baby wasn't breathing. You call 911. What happened?
WALLER: The only thing that I received on the other end was "Hang up and dial 911. If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911." So I did, several times. And eventually, I realized I wasn't getting anybody. So I grabbed her, and I ran across the street, and had my neighbors call 911.
COOPER: And how long was it before help arrived?
WALLER: I don't know. It seemed like forever.
COOPER: When you signed up for phone service through the Internet with Vonage, you actually signed an agreement that acknowledged you weren't going to receive the traditional 911 services.
They said that, you know, when you dial 911, the call is routed from the Vonage network to the public safety answering point or local emergency service personnel. That's what it said in the agreement. Did you realize you were signing that?
WALLER: That was never, never made clear to me. There's no way I would have ever had a 911 service in my house that was connected to a non-emergency number. I have several children in my home. And now I have one less.
COOPER: Mike, you haven't filed a lawsuit yet. I understand the issue is being looked at by a number of states. What do you want to see happen?
MIKE SMITH, CHERYL WALLER'S ATTORNEY: Well, Anderson, there's several things that we are hoping to accomplish. First of all, awareness. We want the public to be aware of the fact, for those people that are signing up for 911 Internet service, we want them to be aware of the fact that what they're getting may not actually be the traditional 911 service that they think that they're getting.
In fact, in this particular case, Ms. Waller received an 11-page service agreement. And buried within that service agreement, that had 54 sections, buried within that was the terms that actually told you, "It's really limited 911 that you're getting."
And we want the public to ask questions. Those people that have Vonage or any other Internet phone, we want them to ask the questions so that, when an emergency happens, they don't find themselves in the situation that Ms. Waller did.
COOPER: Cheryl, did you try to call Vonage -- I mean, the next day, I understand you called them. What did they say to you?
WALLER: They actually laughed and said that they could not revive a baby.
COOPER: Wait a minute. The person you called at that company laughed? WALLER: Yes. It was a woman named Marcia. She was laughing at me. She says, "I can't revive a baby." And then she thought she put me on hold, and she went in the background for another five minutes and laughed about it, joked about it.
COOPER: We spoke to a representative of Vonage who refused to address specifically the question of whether the death of your daughter had to do with the service, but they did say this.
They said, quote, "Our hearts go out to the Waller family, and we're doing everything in our power to make sure that this never happens again. In the meantime, we're sending calls to live, manned emergency service centers. In the event we cannot send the calls to a live, manned emergency service center, we're sending the calls to a live, manned phone line at a local law enforcement agency."
Cheryl, is this enough?
WALLER: No. Because that live, manned phone they say is at a police station could be the front desk where an operator went home for the day. That is not enough. Stop advertising you have 911. You don't have it. Stop advertising it.
COOPER: Well, Cheryl Waller, again, I appreciate you being on. I think a lot of people didn't realize this, don't realize it, and I know you want to educate the public about it. So we appreciate you taking the time to do it, as painful as it is for you, Cheryl. Thank you.
And Mike Smith, as well, thanks for joining us.
WALLER: Thank you, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Still on the subject, after hearing emotional testimony from customers who were unable to get help during life-threatening crises, the FCC has ordered Internet telephone carriers to provide full 911 emergency calling services later this year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): "911: Lives on the Line." A 360 investigation into what works and what doesn't when you dial 911. Tonight, how the emergency response system is under pressure like never before, cellphones, Internet phones. Will help get to you when you need it most?
A first-time mom makes a desperate call to 911. Hear how a quick-thinking dispatcher helped this frantic mom save her baby's life.
And the remarkable story of this dog, who used her nose to dial 911 and barked for help. How is that possible? Find out tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Welcome back to this special edition of 360. We're devoting the entire hour to something that may save your life: 911 calls. We sincerely hope you're never going to have to need to dial those three numbers. But if you do, we want to show you who would be on the other end of the line. So we sent CNN's Rick Sanchez inside a busy emergency center in Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Miami, Florida is a hot destination at any time of the year. But on this weekend, police are expecting it to be particularly eventful. And if it's a hot night in the city, this is where it will first be detected.
This is Miami's 911 center, one of the most sophisticated in the entire country, where the people on the midnight shift begin by checking an old-fashioned bulletin board for a listing of local events.
(on camera): From an emergency standpoint, knowing that an event is taking place better prepares you for the aftermath of that event?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without a doubt. Without a doubt.
SANCHEZ: People who go to concerts, get into traffic accidents. They often can have too much to drink. They often can change their moods.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: This can cause you to have to work a little more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And all of that is factored into the operational plans.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): It is 19 minutes past midnight. A woman from this house calls police to report an emergency.
(on camera): You can hear the siren going. It means that we've just received a 326. That means there's a burglary in progress. And we're racing to it as we speak.
SGT. MANNY MORALES, MIAMI POLICE: There might be a family inside and somebody's trying to pry the door open. That's why the -- we are getting the authorization to run a signal 3.
SANCHEZ: So some lives could be in danger on a call like this?
MORALES: Correct.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): At the scene police arrive to a locked home, a frightened resident, and an explanation only an experienced street cop could put together. This was no burglary.
MORALES: My gut tells me it's more than likely it was some individuals that came to either purchase or use narcotics in the front house, made a mistake, and went to the back house.
SANCHEZ: This man has called police to report being attacked by a woman kicking and punching him and his vehicle, he says. He tells us it's a jealous ex-girlfriend.
MORALES: She threw that at your face? She hit you in the face with that? And then what -- (SPEAKING SPANISH). What did she do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
MORALES: So she said...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
MORALES: So she threw something against the car. And then -- did she threaten you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si.
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, back at the police communications center, the calls continue to stream in.
SINDY PAUL, 911 OPERATOR: If it's a life-threatening emergency they just want the police officer right there. They don't want us to go down the list of the protocol. They want immediate assistance.
SANCHEZ: It's a Saturday night. And getting clear information from nervous callers can become a frustrating ordeal at both ends of the line. For people calling 911, it's the perception they're not getting what they need fast enough.
(on camera): For example, you may wonder why these dispatchers seem to be playing a game of 20 questions with you, why I don't hear them talking to a police officer. Here's why. While they're getting your information, these officers are actually talking to the police officers, simultaneously oftentimes relaying that information. Happens just like that.
(voice-over): Back on the streets, police have found the jealous ex-girlfriend. It's a classic case of he says, she says. But because of a witness account, she is arrested and will spend at least one night in the county jail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Attention units en route to 332 at 345 Northwest St. Only information we have is that the offender is still on the scene, repeating offender is still on the scene, have no description.
SANCHEZ: Thanks to a quick call, police arrive on the scene in time to arrest a suspect charged with attacking a man with a machete. The wounded victim of the machete attack was raced to the hospital. His mother gets the news from consoling neighbors.
Police were able to get to the scene in just three minutes, thanks in part to some new technology.
(on camera): This gives you what? The text information.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Correct. The address and the phone number where the caller is calling from.
SANCHEZ: All written out for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And this over here, this is state of the art. This is a map, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The actual map. And it will pinpoint in that area where the caller is at.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now we have 9...
SANCHEZ (voice-over): You see that circle on the map? That's a cell phone radius which lets police narrow the caller down to a four- block area. But as he moves into another radius, they're able to narrow him down even further.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have they arrived? He's hiding under the table in the dining hall -- in the hallway.
SANCHEZ: The midnighters are now well into their shift when a burglary call gets personal. It changes to a 315. That means an officer needs assistance.
Backup arrives. And together they search the area. The officer is OK. However, the bad guy has gotten away.
The next call brings police and fire rescue together responding to a man who may be having a heart attack. They need to get him to the hospital right away. But what about his kids? They would be left alone. It's a dilemma. A helpful neighbor comes to the rescue until a family member can arrive.
(on camera): You're going to take care of the children?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Neighborly thing to do, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. He's neighborly to me.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): That gives fire rescue the green light to transport their patient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extra large gloves. Good.
SANCHEZ: The midnight crew is almost ready to call it a night. Good news for Sergeant Morales, but he's got one more incident to deal with. A so-called baker act. Somebody police consider to be a danger to themselves or others. This woman says her sister stole her eyes and she needs to get back to ancient Rome.
MORALES: Relax real quick anoniza (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Am I going to jail?
MORALES: No, you're not going to jail. Based on the statements and the observations that I made here, OK, we're going to take you to JMH Crisis so you can talk to somebody, OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came from them.
MORALES: I know you just came from them. It looks like you need crisis to me, OK. Just have a seat real quick, sweetheart. OK, we're just trying to get your the help that you need, OK?
SANCHEZ (on camera): And there you have it. That's the midnight shift. Started -- there are five of us, started sometime around 9:00, went through 7:00 the next morning. In all, 124 arrests were made that night.
What we learn is that what they're trying to do is standardize this system somehow, try and come up with a way so that it's as exact as they can possibly make it.
And I'll give you an example of what they are doing. They actually now have put out a protocol list. Obviously it can't be an exact science because there's too much subjective conversation going on. But if they give the operators the words that they should use when people make the phone calls, then they can use that as a guideline. And what that does is it eliminates most errors.
They're trying to get as state of the art as they possibly can get or at least moving in that direction.
I'm Rick Sanchez. Anderson, back over to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Still to come on this special edition of 360, canine to the rescue. The dog that called 911 with her nose and saved her owner's life.
But first growing problem: pranksters abusing 911. The shocking truth behind a hostage drama you may have seen live on TV.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Here's a look at stories in the world in 360.
U.S. intelligence authorities have found no evidence implicating Iran's new president in the taking of U.S. hostages in Tehran 26 years ago. A new intelligence report says it could be a case of mistaken identity. Shortly after Iran's president was elected in June, some of the 52 former U.S. hostages said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among their captors. The State Department is investigating the allegations.
A state of emergency in effect in Sri Lanka after the assassination of that country's foreign minister. A massive manhunt is under way for the suspects in the shooting. And you are looking at pictures of the chaotic scene outside the home of 73-year-old Lakshman Kadirgamar -- excuse me. Police say he was shot in the head and chest outside his home. Sri Lanka's military says the foreign minister had led a campaign to have the Tamil rebels banned as a terrorist group. They are suspected in the attack.
More reservists and national guardsmen have been killed in Iraq this month than in any month in the entire war. The Pentagon says 32 reservists and guardsmen have been killed in combat so far in August. That compares with six guard and reserve combat deaths in August last year.
And British Airways flights have resumed to and from London's Heathrow airport. But the airline says more than 70,000 passengers are still stranded after a 24 hour unofficial strike. One thousand British Airways employees walked off the job Thursday in support of workers who were fired at the airline's food supplier.
I'm Heidi Collins. I'll see you in 30 minutes.
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COOPER: This hour, we've been looking at the burdens placed on 911 services. And one problem we haven't yet addressed is crank calls. Now, we all know when we were kids we learned the fable about the boy who cried wolf. It's an ancient story and a crucial lesson for most of us. Well, now thanks to the Internet and the 911 system, crying wolf is taking on a whole new malicious twist. Here's CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began with a frantic call to New Jersey police. A teenage girl saying she'd just been beaten and raped and that her two attackers were holding her prisoner, one of them even grabbing the phone.
LARRY BOYD, UNCLE OF "BOMBING" VICTIM: He told the police if you show your face here I will kill her, I will kill one of you, and I'm going to kill myself.
FEYERICK: Larry Boyd's niece was living on the first floor of the New Brunswick home where the call was supposedly made. Police hoped Boyd might recognize the caller's voice. A S.W.A.T. team converged. The neighborhood was shut down. And hostage negotiators tried to coax out the suspects. Six hours later...
BRUCE KAPLAN, PROSECUTOR: There were three people that came out of the third floor of the apartment.
FEYERICK: The teens who came out seemed to fit the description. It was a total coincidence.
The 911 call never came from New Jersey. Police say it came from Arlington, Texas, from 23-year-old Fatin Ward. Fatin's mom insisted we shield her face. She says her daughter's obsessed with chat rooms and people she meets on the Internet and that Fatin watched the New Jersey drama play out on TV.
DORTHULA WISENER, MOTHER: She was so excited on the chat line, laughing with them because I guess they're all watching it, laughing and grinning like you see it? I couldn't believe that she was that excited over something so serious.
FEYERICK: The call was a prank, known in chat rooms as bombing. The caller takes revenge on someone who's made them angry by reporting a fake emergency. Police respond, guns drawn.
KEVIN BARROWS, FRM. FBI AGENT: It's a serious problem for law enforcement. And there's really very little ability for them to decipher what's a fake call and what's a real call until it's often too late and they've been deployed.
FEYERICK: Internet services now make it easy for caller I.D. to reflect whatever number someone chooses. It's what happened when Pennsylvania police dispatcher Jim Connel got a prank call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1412241132 standby.
FEYERICK: From a woman now believed to also be Fatin Ward.
JIM CONNEL, DISPATCHER: I actually thought it was a real call. She was excited. She was crying. You could tell she was nervous. She -- the first thing she said is a friend of mine, the father is shot and the mother and the baby.
FEYERICK: Police believe the target inside that home may have been a teenager who fought with Ward on the phone. The teen and his mom were terrified by the experience.
SGT. TIM RUOFF, PALMER TOWNSHIP POLICE: Both were very panicked and fear-stricken. They did not know what was going on. They did not know the circumstances, or why they were being called out. And it puts them in a very difficult situation, coming out and having their house surrounded by police officers.
FEYERICK: So far no one's been hurt. But police worry it's just a matter of time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will enter a plea of not guilty.
FEYERICK: Fatin Ward and a friend recently pleaded not guilty to making the New Brunswick calls. Authorities in at least a dozen towns in three states, New Jersey included, are now investigating whether Ward may be responsible for a number of other phony calls and whether these pranks are just the beginning.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Wow. Next on this special edition of 360, a baby stops breathing and a frantic mother's only chance for help is a 911 operator. Hear the 911 tape. Hear how this tiny life was finally saved.
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COOPER: The nation's 911 emergency system handles half a million calls for help every day. A remarkable number. Both the technology and the dedication of the 911 operators are truly amazing. CNN's Gary Tuchman has the story of one call, a perfect blend of technology and humanity, with a young life hanging in the balance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The call came in at 4:53 in the afternoon.
CINDY WALKER, 911 OPERATOR: 911, what is your emergency?
SHERYL DRIGGERS, MOTHER: My baby stopped breathing.
WALKER: OK. Stay on the line with me. I'll get help to you. OK?
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Barrett Driggers (ph) was two-and-a-half weeks old; his body completely limp; his mother on the phone with the Leon County, Florida, 911 center.
DRIGGERS: Please, please, please help me.
WALKER: We'll send you help.
DRIGGERS: What should I do? Should I -- he won't open his eyes. He won't wake up. Please help me.
TUCHMAN: Helping her was dispatcher Cindy Walker.
WALKER: She was in a state of panic.
DRIGGERS: Come on, baby, come on, wake up, wake up, wake up.
WALKER: It made me think of my own children and how I would feel, you know, in this situation.
DRIGGERS: Please help me. How long before they'll be here?
TUCHMAN (on camera): This 911 center averages more than 33,000 calls per year. But for Cindy Walker, the CPR call was her first, and the fact that it involved a baby only added to the pressure.
WALKER: And then you have to enter the telephone number.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Sheryl Driggers did not realize it at the time, but Cindy Walker was using a special computer system.
WALKER: While I was taking the call, I put the address in and determined that it was a 2.5-week-old infant not breathing.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A system which lists customized instructions on the screen.
WALKER: I told her this: Listen carefully and I'll tell how you to do CPR compressions. Place two fingers in the center of his chest, right between the nipples.
Now what I want you to do -- listen carefully. I'm going to tell you how to do CPR compressions.
DRIGGERS: OK.
WALKER: Place two fingers in the center of his chest, right between the nipples.
DRIGGERS: OK.
TUCHMAN: At that point, thought, the baby still wasn't breathing.
DRIGGERS: That was going through my mind: I've lost him. What am I going to do? I'm not going to be able to see him grow up. I'm not going to be able to see the first steps.
WALKER: Push down one inch with only your fingers touching the chest. Pump his chest rapidly five times.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): It was right after those words that Cindy Walker and an EMS supervisor with her worked their magic.
WALKER: OK. Put your mouth over his nose and mouth, one soft puff, and then pump five chest times -- five times on his chest.
DRIGGERS: Four, five. One, two, three, four, five.
WALKER: Breathe lightly like you're blowing up a balloon.
DRIGGERS: OK. One, two, three, four five.
WALKER: Are you covering his nose and mouth?
DRIGGERS: Yes.
WALKER: OK, keep doing that.
DRIGGERS: One, two, three, four, five. He's starting to cry.
WALKER: All right. Good.
DRIGGERS: OK, baby.
WALKER: He's crying.
DRIGGERS: OK, baby. Come on. TUCHMAN (voice-over): Paramedics took the infant to the hospital. Doctors think the baby had choked on digested food. But little Barrett's (ph) life had been saved.
Sheryl and Jason Driggers regard Cindy Walker as a hero.
DRIGGERS: She was incredible. She is incredible. She was so calm. She was so knowledgeable. And I was on the other end just hysterical.
TUCHMAN: How did you feel when you heard him cry?
DRIGGERS: It was the best feeling in the whole wide world.
JASON DRIGGERS, FATHER: I don't know how you explain it. You go from not knowing if he's alive or what is going on to knowing he's fine. So that's the weight of the world lifted off your shoulders.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Cindy Walker and EMS supervisor Tom McNabb received letters of commendation from the Leon County Sheriff's Office as well as gratitude from the Driggers.
DRIGGERS: Are you going to smile for me?
TUCHMAN: Cindy Walker wonders if emotionally she could have continued her job if Barrett's (ph) life had not been saved. Barrett's (ph) mother thinks of the what ifs.
DRIGGERS: Your children aren't supposed to consume you. You're supposed to raise them for 18, 20 years and then send them out. But I really -- as young as Barrett (ph) was, he was my whole world at that point. And I don't know what we would have done.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Lucky, aren't you?
DRIGGERS: Yes, very blessed. The Lord blessed us tremendously. He put all the right people at the right places at the right time.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And that is a great success story.
Coming up next on this special edition of 360, a 911 call you will not forget. You won't understand a thing the caller says, because -- well, because the caller was a dog, and the dog was using her nose. And well, we'll explain.
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COOPER: And finally tonight, you've got to have faith that a dog is a man's best friend, especially when that dog's name is Faith, and it saves your life. Leana Beasley is alive today thanks to her canine companion making a 911 call. I spoke to Leana earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So let's go back to the day that Faith really saved your life. You felt bad. You thought it was the flu, but it was your liver really shutting down.
LEANA BEASLEY, SAVED BY DOG'S 911 CALL: Yes.
COOPER: What happened?
BEASLEY: I -- Faith wouldn't let me go to sleep. She kept jumping up on the bed and running circles on my bed. So -- and she wouldn't stop. So...
COOPER: She doesn't normally do that, I don't think.
BEASLEY: No. This is very odd behavior for her. She's not allowed normally up on my bed. And so she repeatedly kept doing this. So I finally, I got up, got back into my wheelchair, and sat out in the living room with her, to try to calm her down. I was beginning to feel nauseous, so I went into the kitchen to make some hot water for hot chocolate. And as I was reaching across the stove for the kettle, I just went black, passed out.
And when I fell out of my wheelchair, I hit my head on the kitchen cabinet. And that threw me into immediate grand mal seizures. And that's when Faith sprang into action, and she knew exactly what to do for the seizures.
COOPER: So even -- what did she do? I mean, you started having a seizure, what did she do?
BEASLEY: She immediately ran to the phone, picked it up, brought it back to me. She ran back to the base, pushed the speed dial button, came back to me again.
COOPER: So Faith -- she dials 911 with her nose. Let's play the recording from 911 to hear what happens next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911. This is Jenny. Please state your emergency. 911. Hello? Hello?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: When you heard that 911 call for the first time, what was that like?
BEASLEY: I just got chills. I was just -- every time I hear it, I get chills. I was just totally, totally amazed.
COOPER: I know Faith has had a lot of training. Can you show me how she dials 911?
BEASLEY: Faith. OK. Faith, 911. Good girl. OK. Make a call. Good girl. COOPER: How do you view her? I mean, I've got a dog, I view her as part of the family. I mean, do you...
BEASLEY: She's actually -- I consider her an extension of my own physical body, just like my wheelchair is. My wheelchair is my legs, my mobility. And Faith is the same thing. She's an extension of me. We're a team. And I take care of her, and she takes care of me.
COOPER: You guys make a great team.
BEASLEY: Yeah.
COOPER: It's really great to meet you. Thank you so much for coming in.
BEASLEY: It's nice meeting you.
COOPER: Faith, good job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Great dog.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks very much for watching this special edition of 360: "911, Lives on the Line." Good night.
END
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