News

Actions

8-year-old calls 911 after dad overdoses

Posted at 5:04 PM, Jan 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-26 20:56:38-05

It was a life or death situation.

"I think my dad's dead, he's not waking up or anything."

A 8-year-old boy showed courage under pressure, calling Waukesha, Wisconsin police while sitting in a car with his dad slumped over the wheel. Police say he overdosed on drugs.

Waukesha Police Cpt. Dan Baumann says the boy was in a car with his four and six year-old brothers in the back of this parking lot in downtown Waukesha. The car parked with the keys in the ignition.

"I give the boy a bunch of credit for having the knowledge to do that, I don't believe we train kids especially at the age of 8 to grab a cell phone and call 911 in any emergency situation," said Baumann.

He didn't know where he was.

"Do you know exactly where you are?" said a dispatcher.

"No, I have no clue," said the boy.

But dispatchers where able to ping his father's phone to find the exact location. A good Samaritan also came to the car and talked to dispatchers before police arrived.

"You could hear he was really relieved when the police got there, moments and seconds do count," said Baumann.

Baumann says the father was taken to the hospital and the three kids are now with their mother.

He says this is just another sad case of an overdose and it's another reminder to stand against rampant addictions.

"This is not just a police department issue or a district attorney's issue, we will not arrest our way out of this problem. This is a true community issue here," said Baumann.