We've all heard of relationships gone wrong, but it's actually more common than we think! The National Study of Domestic Abuse has revealed that more than 200,000 women and almost 90,000 men report being victims of home violence during their lifetimes. Yikes, people!
What would you do to get out of a dangerous situation, though? Planning out a strategy ahead of time is a great idea, but one woman was quick on her feet and decided to trick the assailant! Ordering a pizza on the 911 hotline saved the day, to everyone's surprise. Let's see how it all went down, shall we?
Dispatching The Night Away
Tim TenEyck is a 911 dispatcher in Oregon, Ohio. He has answered quite a few 911 calls in his career: With 14 years on the job, Tim thought he had heard everything!
Violent crime stats in Oregon are 1.65 times less than the state average, but things do happen sometimes! One evening, Tim received a very strange request indeed. What was it?
Pizza What?
At first, Tim thought someone was calling the wrong number. In most places, it is a crime to call the emergency line for no good reason!
The woman on the other end had a very strange request. It was definitely something the police station didn’t deliver. The lady wanted pizza, for God’s sake!
Pleading For Pepperoni
Not only did the woman request a pizza for delivery, she wanted large pepperoni! "This is the wrong number to call for a pizza," Tim said.
"No no no. You're not understanding me," the woman replied immediately. It was then that the reality started to dawn on him. Tim's expert training kicked in, and he knew something was wrong!
Coded In Cheese
Despite being confused by the request at first, Tim's intuition kicked in. This was no mistake at all, and he began to engage the woman on her terms. “I’m getting you now,” he said after 20 seconds.
It was now clear the caller was trying to covertly alert the authorities to a dangerous situation. Pizza was merely the code!
Mozzarella Manhunt
"Is the other guy still there?" Tim asked. "Yep. I need a large pizza," the woman said. Tim asked if she needed medical attention. "No. With pepperoni," she replied.
Now he had the right hunch! Let's say she was being held hostage. What could she really admit on the line?
A Call To Action
Now, it was time to send assistance. Tim made the call to dispatch police, but he gave them special instructions.
"Alright, turn your sirens off before you get there," Tim explained. "Caller ordered a pizza, and agreed with everything I said." How did the dispatcher know to do this so smoothly, you ask?
A Regular Sleuth
Tim says he's answered many domestic disturbance calls in his many years of service. But this one really took the calzone!
"You see it on Facebook, but it's not something that anybody has ever been trained for. We're just trained to listen," the veteran said. Despite the gossip that trained 911 workers know how to launch into an automatic script when prompted with pizza, Tim really just used his gut.
Tricky And Sneaky
Local Police Chief Michael Navarre told the news that he has never heard of pizza as a cry for help — not even in 42 years on the force!
"Somehow or another, convey to that police dispatcher that you are in trouble, and this woman did that. She did that not with her words, but with the tone of her voice," he explained. Where did she get this idea in the first place, though?
Rumor Has It
Apparently, a 2015 Super Bowl ad featured a woman who called 911 to order a pizza to ask for help in another domestic abuse scenario. Viewers heard: “When it’s hard to talk, it’s up to us to listen.” Maybe the idea subliminally stuck with her?
Some police departments have now said they are wary of this tactic, however. They are worried that a food order will not be obvious enough to explain a dangerous, time-sensitive situation! Social media immediately swirled with rumors that police secretly know this code, and it's not really true!
Punch Drunk Love
When police came in the door, they arrested Simon Lopez for allegedly punching, threatening, and pushing the mother of the pizza caller into a wall.
The victim would describe her boyfriend as “disorderly, loud, verbally, and physically abusive" in the report. This led to a formal charge of domestic violence and disorderly conduct while intoxicated after the ordeal was over.
For the record, Lopez denied the allegations. The courts will sort this one out, but many wonder — was this elaborate pizza cover really necessary?
No Slipping Away
The victim's daughter told a local television station that she called 911 in such a novel way for a specific reason. If the drunk, menacing man figured out the police were on the way, he might escape!
This tactic was ideal because the assailant was none the wiser, and police arrived at the scene without an additional fight. Clever lady! But how common are these coded food calls, according to 911 professionals?
Not His First Time
In fact, Tim says he’s taken actual wrong number calls to order pizza before! About the half the calls like this seem to be real mistakes, so how did he know this one was no joke?
Mr. Lopez was ultimately nabbed because Tim was taught to listen to each call very carefully. There must have been something in her voice!
“If it’s your only option, and that abusive person is next to you and listening to everything you say, then by all means — you call and order that pizza,” he advises. Is there an even better option, though?
The Force Weighs In
Some people might think a 911 call is the only available action in an emergency. According to the LAPD, “This is false. Text to 911 is a much better option...Your exact location & the nature of your emergency is what’s needed to send the right resources.”
Good to know there is another covert option for victims looking for help! But it's best to check ahead of time with your local precinct. According to Tim, the small Oregon, Ohio location did not have an SMS service! Does yours?
Final Tips
Police want the public to know more about surviving domestic violence. If possible, it's important to provide the right information and stay on the 911 line!
Staying on the phone as long as you can allows a dispatcher to hear more signs of danger, like gunshots, yelling, or loud dogs.
Make sure to say full names, if possible. We all know a few too many John's and Bob's! It is also recommended to make up a reason to use the phone if the criminal is in the room. While the subject of this unusual story was pizza, pretending to call the electric company could also be a great idea!
And Tim? The chief of police publicly congratulated him! "He handled the call beautifully and it had a happy ending." No one could disagree. Great work, buddy!