The American obsession with profanity reaches its apex in this story out of Michigan about a police officer who hangs up on a 911 caller because she says the word fuck.
It happened a while ago, but Boing-Boing just discovered it, so that makes it new to the nets. This transcript of the ABC news story begins after 17-year-old Adrainne Ledesma calls 911 to report that her father is having a severe seizure.
She says she got no quick answer, so she hung-up and called again. Now you know those emergency calls are recorded, but did you know the recording starts even before the call is answered?
So you can hear her near-panic when again she can�t get an immediate answer, blurting out the f-word just as the call is picked up.
Ledesma: What the fuck.
Officer Robert McFarland: 911.
Ledesma: I need an ambulance at (address).
Sgt. McFarland: Well, okay, first of all you don�t need to swear over 9-1-1 and slow down.
Ledesma: Send me a fucking ambulance!
(Call is disconnected. Ledesma calls again.)
Sgt. McFarland: 911.
Ledesma: Are you going to give me an ambulance?
Sgt. McFarland: Are you going to swear again, you stupid ass?
Ledesma: Are we going to have an fucking problem?
Sgt. McFarland: No, you�re not going to get one!
Ledesma: Do you want to fucking lose your job?
(Call is disconnected. Ledesma calls again)
After yet a third futile call, Ledesma runs to the police office, understandably still cursing, where she is arrested for disorderly conduct and the non-existing crime of abusing 911. Eventually everything ends up OK. Dad is fine, the charges against the girl are dropped, and the cop -- who eventually sent an ambulance while lying to the dispatcher about why it took so long -- is suspended without pay for a couple of weeks.
But the real hero here is local news reporter Steve Wilson who indulges in absolutely none of the expected "of course this bratty teenager shouldn't have used foul language" nonsense that one might have expected. He reserves out outrage entirely for Sgt. McFarland. For once, I'm willing to forgive the fact that the curse words are bleeped out in the story itself.
