Posted on FlashAlert: September 25th, 2024 10:30 AM
This morning shortly after 7:30am, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office sent multiple resources to the Cheshire area after receiving several incomplete 911 calls from a child stating that someone had been shot and that a male was assaulting a female. The child did not provide an address to the emergency and hung up the phone, requiring responders and dispatch personnel to work quickly to try and find the emergency location.
Lane County Sheriff’s deputies, Oregon State Police Troopers, and Eugene Police K9 units arrived in the general area and began checking door to door. LCSO detectives began contacting local schools to try and identify the involved child, while an LCSO crisis negotiator continued to try and make contact with the 911 caller who was not answering. The Junction City Police Department also provided resources to try and determine the identity of the involved child.
Investigators eventually contacted a child at an area elementary school who stated that several prank calls were made to 911 from a school bus while riding to school. Four children in total, were involved. School administration is working with investigators to contact the parents of the involved children.
The emergent nature of this reported call for service took priority over other calls for service for nearly two hours. Multiple resources were spent that could have otherwise been handling other, real, calls for service. Please talk to your children about the seriousness of utilizing emergency systems such as 911 and educate them that while they should always call 911 in an emergency, prank calls take away resources that could otherwise be helping those that are in true need of emergency services.
George Custer lives in Oakridge with his wife Sayre. George is a former smokejumper from his hometown of Cave Junction, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. and ran a construction company in Southern California. George assumed the volunteer duties as the Editor of the Highway 58 Herald in 2022. He loves riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, building all things wood, and playing drums on the weekends in his office.
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