911 call: "I left my 1-year-old baby in my SUV by accident"
911--What is your emergency
Father: "I left, by accident, my toddler, in my SUV at North Quincy Station.
911 operator: you left what?
Father: "My little baby"
Let's analyze this.
The scenario is a baby left alone. The claim is accidental.
What is the first thing the father reports? This is a bizarre circumstance so the "expected" must be what you would report.
"I left, by accident, my toddler, in my SUV at North Quincy."
1. It begins with the pronoun "I"
2. It reports in the first sentence that a toddler has been left, that it was not intentional, and gives the location of where the toddler is, including the vehicle type and the station stop.
It is safe to conclude that this caller wants the police to know about the child.
The 911 operator is taken back, or surprised, and repeats the question about what happened back to him, with "you left what?"
The father says, "my little baby"
Please note that "toddler" is now "baby", with "toddler" being older and, perhaps, safer for the time being, but "baby" increasing risk.
Even with a short passing of time, the father knows that risk increases.
The child is not just "baby", nor even just "my" baby, but "little" baby which shows an instinctive, immediate understanding of the increase in risk. The "little baby" is helpless, even more than a toddler.
Note that in the immediate answer and the follow up answer, he uses the pronoun "my."
There is no indication of deception or guilty status in this statement, or in the follow up statement. He took ownership of not only the child, but of the action that put the child in risk.
He is telling the truth.
He gave the most amount of information in the shortest manner--remember, each 911 call is an interview.
The subject (caller) will give one of two distinct impressions:
Either the caller is doing what he can to facilitate the flow of knowledge or he is not.
In other words, he is either working with the Interviewer or he is working against the interview.
Let's compare it to Chief William McCollum's 911 call.
911: Fayette county 911, what’s the address of your emergency?
Chief: 103 Autumn Leaf.
911: What’s going on there?
Chief: Uh, gunshot wound…accidental. Need medical asap
Who is shot? Who shot whom? Where is the victim shot? Who is the victim?
Since he has given minimal answers, the 911 operator is confused:
911: OK. Where are you shot at?
Chief: What’s that?
911: Where is the person shot at?
"Person" is gender neutral. Thus far, the 911 operator does not know who has been shot
Chief: In the back.
911: Is it a male or female?
The 911 operator had to ask this. She should not have had to ask.
Chief: Female.
This is all he says.
The call went on in a dramatically minimal manner in which the caller worked against the operator.
At the time this went to news, many of you wrote in your version of the "expected" had you accidentally shot your own wife.
You, in large majority wrote that you would have said,
"I shot my wife, accidentally. She is bleeding from..." or something similar.
In McCollum's call, he never identified the victim with the words, "my", or "wife", or her name. The caller had deep anger, resentment and distancing language towards the victim.
In the 911 call of the baby, the language went from "risk" to even "higher risk" as the subject considered what he had done.
He took responsibility and gave out complete information, while McCollum played a game of "pulling teeth" to watch over his every word and say as little as possible in order to protect himself, even if it meant delay of First Aid assistance.
