Erin's 911 call

[Gator]

So I probably shouldn't bring up the fact that I think she's totally in on it as a career boost?

 

[JC]

So I probably shouldn't bring up the fact that I think she's totally in on it as a career boost?

Do you believe this?

 

[imjustagirl]

Yay! New button person!

 

[JackReacher]

This is becoming more comical than astonishing or embarrassing.

 

[sportschick]

So I probably shouldn't bring up the fact that I think she's totally in on it as a career boost?

You can bring it up, and I can say I think you're scum of the Earth.

 

[poindexter]

So I probably shouldn't bring up the fact that I think she's totally in on it as a career boost?

I didn't know mizzou had a spawn.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Hey, I thought anyone with a Gator bias was an Andrews supporter

 

[Care Bear]

Bottom line, if she wants the story to die before college football season, stop calling 911, which is and always will be released to the public (and by the public, I mean the losers at TMZ).

Wow. Where's the line? I mean, what can happen to her where it'd be OK for her to call 911?

Stop calling 911. ****ing brilliant.

I'm not saying you should be "afraid" to call 911. Yes, if you do, police will come and remove TMZ photographers one at a time. But they're like Gremlins in a pool. They'll be back. Do the smart thing, grab the telephone book and dial the local police station on the local number. Don't call 911 because you know that's just going to ignite a played out story once again.

In the midst of this maelstrom of bickering and hurt feelings, I think it's important to note that you also cannot expose Gremlins to bright lights or feed them after midnight.

 

[broadway joe]

For those who are saying that she called 911 after these guys repeatedly knocked on her door and wouldn't go away when asked, could you point me toward a link that says that? Seriously. Maybe I missed it, because I don't think that's the case. It seems that people are trying to portray this as a much more threatening situation than it was.

It appears to me that she saw them sitting in a car in broad daylight and correctly assumed them to be tabloid guys, not stalkers who intended any bodily harm. Then she called 911. They did come to the door at some point, but that wasn't what caused Andrews to call the cops, because she was already on the phone with them by then. Her reference to Britney Spears was an apt one, because she was going through the **** that celebrities go through with the paparazzi every day. These guys didn't pose any danger to her, they were just a nuisance. You don't call 911 to get rid of a nuisance.

The part you've missed is where the cops had informed her to call 911. So if the cops don't have a problem with it, why do you?

I didn't miss that part. It's been addressed about three times. I doubt that the cops told her to call 911 any time she saw someone sitting outside her house. If they did, they were wrong to do so. Maybe some cop was star-struck, I don't know. I'm just saying that if you look at this situation objectively, this was not a 911 emergency. She called them paparazzi, which suggests that she felt they were out to take her picture or get an interview, not harm her. Some people on here have made it sound like these guys were pounding on her door trying to force their way in, which is simply not the case from what I've read. And this stuff about her being a prisoner in her own home is nonsense. The only thing she was in danger of if she walked out her front door was getting her picture taken.

And for those who say, how did she know they were harmless?, listen to what she said. Paparazzi. Britney Spears. I do not believe she considered herself to be in any physical danger.

Why do I have a problem with it? I don't have a big problem with it. I was just making an observation. I do however, think it's wrong to divert the cops from potential real 911 emergencies, even if only for a few minutes. I don't think you should dial that number to have a couple of reporters chased off your lawn in the middle of the afternoon, which is all this really was.

 

[imjustagirl]

I do however, think it's wrong to divert the cops from potential real 911 emergencies, even if only for a few minutes.

They do rank emergencies. It's not like they were pulling two cops off a shootout to go talk to Erin Andrews.

 

[MartinEnigmatica]

I do however, think it's wrong to divert the cops from potential real 911 emergencies, even if only for a few minutes.

They do rank emergencies. It's not like they were pulling two cops off a shootout to go talk to Erin Andrews.

Or...it's not like they have two cops in the entire PD. I dunno. It seems like we ought to give her the benefit of the doubt here and just let her deal with it in peace, which will be hard enough.

 

[waterytart]

Is it so difficult for some posters to grasp that, because of the nature of the crime against her, she might be particularly sensitive to invasions of her privacy in a place where she ought to feel safe? For her right now, paparazzi may be a big deal.

 

[sportschick]

Another one for the button. God, there are some men showing their absolute stupidity with this Andrews stuff.

 

[buckweaver]

I emphatically disagree with joe's assertion that she should not have called 911. I've had to call them before, to chase a couple of bums rooting around in the dumpster -- which just happened to be right next to my door -- to where I didn't feel safe getting out of my car and walking past them to get into my apartment at 1 a.m. after work. It was the third consecutive night it had happened and all I wanted to do was go home.

When I called 911, I was given an option before I ever spoke with anyone: press 1 if it was a "real emergency" and they would direct me to a dispatcher immediately or press 2 if it wasn't but I still needed to talk to a dispatcher. (There was also something about it being a crime to call 911 if you didn't need the police/fire/EMTs.) I don't know if it's like that in every town, but it was when I made that call. When I pressed 2, they put me on hold (elevator music and everything) for about 90 seconds before someone answered.

No one was diverted from a "real emergency" by me calling 911. I was in my car, so I didn't have a chance to look up the local station's number -- not sure if anyone would have answered at 1 a.m. anyway. 911 was the right number for me to call when I needed the police. I don't think it's a fair criticism of Erin to say she shouldn't have done the same, especially considering her present circumstances.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Personally, I think all camera-toting paparazzi dirtbags should be candidates for use of excessive force by any police officer who feels like engaging in it. This would extend to "gotcha" TV investigative reporter doucherockets who love to ambush people at their homes.

They could have clubbed these two ****s like baby seals and it wouldn't bother me at all. Good for her for calling 911.

 

[SoCalDude]

If they don't get those assholes out of there, soon they'll be lurking around the house, trying to take photos through windows, etc.
She attempted to stop it now. OK, one car, two guys. Later, two cars, four guys. Then more and more cars and more and more guys.
Stop it now.
I heard an entertainment lawyer interviewed on NPR recently and he was talking about how dangerous the paparazzi gangs are. He said there are numerous instances of celebs driving down the street, turning right as the light is switching from yellow to red, and eight cars with photogs following them around the corner, all running the red light. He said it has to stop before someone gets run down by a photog chasing a celeb.
Basically, if you don't like Erin, you don't think she should have called 911. If you like Erin, you think it was OK to call. Everything she said to the dispatcher was a panicky way of explaining why she needed the police to come:
"I need the cops to come over here, there is a car with paparazzi in front of my house."
The dispatcher was probably thinking, who the hell are you and why would paparazzi be there? Erin tried to explain that, but not very well, at the beginning.
I won't be criticizing her for this.

 

[da man]

Bottom line, if she wants the story to die before college football season, stop calling 911, which is and always will be released to the public (and by the public, I mean the losers at TMZ).

Wow. Where's the line? I mean, what can happen to her where it'd be OK for her to call 911?

Stop calling 911. ****ing brilliant.

I'm not saying you should be "afraid" to call 911. Yes, if you do, police will come and remove TMZ photographers one at a time. But they're like Gremlins in a pool. They'll be back. Do the smart thing, grab the telephone book and dial the local police station on the local number. Don't call 911 because you know that's just going to ignite a played out story once again.

You might want to know that some municipalities -- mine, for instance -- do not list the local police station's number. The city wants all public safety calls, whether police, fire, EMT or utilities, to be handled through the 911 number, whether it's an emergency or not. They have call-takers sort out the can't-wait emergencies from the rest. So if my neighbor's dog has gotten off its leash and is wandering around my yard, I call 911. Same if the people across the street are triple-parked and blocking the road. Every call goes to 911.

Don't know if Andrews' area is like that, but you don't know that it isn't.

 

[Bad Guy Zero]

My dad is head of the Street Dept. for one of the numerous metromess suburbs. Around here gated communities are considered private property. The cities do not maintain the roadways or sidewalks within gated communities. Seems to me that perhaps the reason the police told her to call 911 was so that anyone causing her problems could potentially be cited for trespassing.

As to the security at EA's gated community...years ago I worked at a comic shop in a very affluent part of Dallas. Several businesses in the center had been robbed at knife- or gunpoint. Just before the helliday shopping season there was a meeting conducted by the shopping center's owners to discuss their plans for attracting traffic to the center between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The issue of security came up in the wake of the robberies. The center had security but they were unarmed. We wanted to know if there were any plans to have gun-toting security patrolling the center. We were told that the center owners would not pay the increased fee associated with having armed security on premises. When we asked what good calling an unarmed security guard would do we were told that the security guard could call the police on our behalf. My reaction was along the lines of "If I'm able to use the phone to call security I'll just cut out the middleman and call the cops." The unarmed security person that patrolled the center in the evenings was shot and killed a couple of weeks later. The point being: does the community have an armed or unarmed guard working the gate? What is the guard instructed to do in case of an actual emergency - handle it or call police?

Was EA out of line for calling the police? No. She states that she was told by law enforcement to call 911 if paparazzi were hanging around outside her house. Maybe they told her this so they could set up a trespassing case if needed. Regardless, she was following instructions given her to by law enforcement. And as the dispatcher told her "the first available unit" would see her as soon as possible. Nothing was said that led me to believe that they were going to pull officers off a hostage crisis or a bank robbery to go chase the paparazzi away. Besides, I can't imagine that the police see much excitement in Dunwoody. A search for crime stats took me to a bulletin board site where someone asked about crime levels. One person that's a relative of a Dunwoody resident responded "Very low crime rate - in fact, until recently they rarely locked doors."

 

[zagoshe]

After listening to it again, I will say that I LOVED the fact that the dispatcher had no idea who she was. Dropping the nude video mention during the call was completely unnecessary.

That was my first thought on this -- there is nothing funnier than when someone plays the "don't you know who I am card" and the response is "uh, no....."

But I have to say I agree with the sentiments here (believe it or not)- she should have called 911 if these dickheads were on her property and/or inside a gated community where they did not belong.