Woman Negotiates With Intruder While On Hold With 9-1-1

You would think 9-1-1 would be live at ALL times. That's not the case for a St. Louis woman. On Sunday she was alerted that there was an intruder that entered her gated yard, and was trying to make his way inside. The woman quickly called 9-1-1 for help, but when they answered she was shocked by what she heard. It was a recorded message on the other end of the line. She says she was on hold for several minutes before a live human got on the line. While on hold she was able to negotiate with the intruder she said seemed "out of it". When police finally arrived, they were able to deescalate the situation, and found the man had a sharp knife on him. The city's mayor said back in August that her city deserves an emergency system that functions and works for them, and that's why her administration is working to bring some needed fixes to their 911 system. Part of their plan to fix the issue is to consolidate the 911 centers to reduce the chances of a bottleneck of calls happening at one time.