In 2006, Robert Turner, just 5 years old, called 911 after seeing his mother faint in their Detroit home, but the operators thought it was a prank and did not send help.
During the call, the little boy explained that his mother was not responding, but he was threatened with the police coming if he kept “playing” with the phone. Three hours passed before he called again, and this time they sent a police officer to “scold him”, however, they discovered the woman’s lifeless body, due to heart complications.
Robert watched his mother agonize for three hours, which sparked public outrage and led the family to file a lawsuit against the city and the operators. One of them was even found guilty of negligence, in a case considered historic for the emergency system in the United States.