January 22, 2009

• 911 Hung Up on Me! – Bulgarian Women Drivers & Inspired Children

  911 Dispatcher:  911 What is your emergency?
  Me:  Yes, I’m at the corner of Fountain & Olive in West Hollywood and a woman crashed her car into my front yard.

  

  911 Dispatcher:  Is anyone hurt?
  Me:  I’m not sure.  I think she’s OK, but she doesn’t speak English and she’s very upset. A West Hollywood Parking Attendant called you 15 minutes ago to report the accident and there’s still no one here.  The woman is crying and we don’t know what she’s saying.  Can you please send an officer who speaks Bulgarian or Russian?
  911 Dispatcher:  We have no report of an accident at that address.
  Me:  Well you do now.  Can you send someone?  She’s very upset.
  911 Dispatcher:  Is the other driver there?
  Me:  There was no other driver.  As far as I can tell she was pulling out of a parking spot and didn’t realize her car was in reverse.  She floored it to go up the hill, but went backwards and knocked down a metal sign pole and ended up in my front yard.
  911 Dispatcher:  What kind of car is she driving?
  Me:  A burgundy Mitsubishi and the other car is an Escalade.
  911 Dispatcher:  What other car?
  Me:  Oh, she did some damage to as Escalade as she was backing up.
  911 Dispatcher:  Is that driver there?
  Me:  No, the Escalade was parked.  I don’t know who owns it.  Can you please send someone quickly.  This woman is very upset.  Her hands are shaking so bad, she couldn’t even dial 911.  I finally helped her call her husband.  He’s on his way.  We’ve been waiting about 20 minutes now.
  911 Dispatcher:  We have units on the way.  Will you stay with her?
  Me:  Yes 
  911 Dispatcher:  OK, they will be there soon. 

  
  The West Hollywood parking attendant calling 911 the first time

  In the meantime I went to a Russian couple’s house in the neighborhood to see if they could help.  I figured since Russian and Bulgarian are both Slavic languages, maybe my neighbor could help calm the woman’s nerves (plus the woman did communicate that she spoke some Russian).  Unfortunately, of my two neighbors only the wife speaks English.  Her husband didn’t understand what I was saying and I gathered that his wife wasn’t home.  When I went back outside the police still weren’t there!

  
  This sign she ran over is what kept her from crashing in to my living room!

  8 minutes later…28 minutes after the crash

   
  911 Dispatcher:  911 what is your emergency?
  Me:  Yeah, I called 8 minutes ago about an accident that happened a half an hour ago and the police still aren’t here.
  911 Dispatcher:  Yes, I just talked to you 5 minutes ago, they are on there way.
  Me:  It was 8 minutes ago, and they’re not here.  This is ridiculous.
  911 Dispatcher:  Sir don’t argue with me.
  Me:  I’m not arguing with you.  I’m stating facts. 
  911 Dispatcher:  You know this call is being recorded?
  Me:  I don’t care if it’s being recorded.  I’m a taxpayer who’s just trying to be a good Samaritan.  This woman doesn’t speak English. I have no idea if she’s hurt or not.  We’ve been standing out here for 1/2 an hour….
  911 Dispatcher:  Sir….(She speaks over me and I have no idea what she’s saying.)
  Me:  Don’t interrupt me, I’m speaking.
  911 Dispatcher: / Sure we have other emergencies…CLICK
  
  

  The phone goes dead.  911 hung up on me!!!

  
  Just then the woman’s husband drives up.  He gets out of his car and speaks to her in Bulgarian.  He seemed upset with her, so I started taking some video with my camera.  Sorry about the quality, I was trying to be discreet.  Does anyone understand Bulgarian?  It seems he’s being pretty hard on her, but I don’t know what he’s saying:

  Finally the police showed up.  I let the woman’s husband explain what happened, even though he wasn’t there.  Then I told them what I knew:  I was sitting at my desk working and I heard a loud crash.  At first I thought it was an earthquake, and when I saw what had happened I ran outside to see if I could help.  I told them about the 911 calls and that I was upset that the 911 operator hung up on me.  They said I shouldn’t have called from my cell phone because they don’t automatically know where I am. (They don’t???)  Whatever.  So much for trying to help.  I went inside and made dinner.  Since my patio doors were open, I heard everything that happened after I went inside.  Apparently the Bulgarian woman is a nanny for a girl who lives across the street from me and she was leaving work when she crashed her car.  Then the woman who owned the Escalade came out.  She was remarkably nice about the whole thing and tried to comfort the Bulgarian woman.  I’m not sure I would have been so forgiving had it been my car she hit.  I guess that’s a lesson in compassion for me.   Actually there was remarkably little damage to the Escalade:

  

  

  The whole situation really pissed me off.  I live in a supposedly affluent city with top rate police and fire protection.  I would like to think that had the woman been injured they would have been there immediately, but have you ever heard of a 911 operator hanging up on someone?  Crazy.  I felt bad for the driver.  She was so confused.  It kind of reminded me of another woman driver I blogged about on July 1st, 2007.  This one however, I had NO sympathy for:

  This morning I’m having breakfast on my patio and I hear this loud horrible boom.  I look across the street and this is what I saw.  I ran and got my camera and shot this video.  I wish I’d gotten the video of this dumb broad getting out of her car and looking up at the garage wondering what happened.  It was if she had no concept of what she’d just done.  She was tilting her head, like a dog tilts his head when you ask if he wants to go for a walk.  LOL.  After getting unstuck, she drove away…but I had my camera set on high resolution, so I have her license plate clear as day.  Damn women drivers!!

  The building is FUGLY anyway.  Maybe they’ll repaint it.  It’s filled with vapid commercial actresses who are always letting their dogs shit in my yard and not picking it up.  I wish she have done more structural damage!

  So…never a dull moment around here!
  My bad mood eased a little however, when I came in and saw this on the news:

  
  From the mouths of babes!  These kids are so adorable. 
  This really made me smile and suddenly forget about
  Bulgarian women drivers who almost crashed in to my living room!
  

  So, as long as the Bulgarian mafia doesn’t try to kill me for taking that video, I’m going to bask in my Obama glow.  It’s a new day!

  

  • 2:59 am
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