Woman who called 911 after alleged hit-and-run claims she was sent to voicemail, then took matters into her own hands: ‘What did you want me to do?’

A very disturbing late-night interstate encounter (shared by a TikTok user) has prompted discussion about a potential failure in the emergency services. The user describes what she believes was a road rage incident involving an armed driver, a pickup truck that was completely wrecked and several attempts to get through to 911, which she says went unanswered.

The story (from @imacrazyrabidsquirrel) concerns something that happened around midnight. She was driving at about 85 mph in the center lane of an interstate, with a white pickup in the right-hand lane. Another vehicle passed her at well over 100 mph, then suddenly dropped to her speed and attempted several sideswipes.

The creator says she slammed on the brakes to avoid a collision. The other driver allegedly swerved across three lanes and hit the white pickup. She says she was honking at the pickup driver when the vehicle struck it at an angle, causing it to roll over and crush the roof. The driver then allegedly drove off, with a gun visible in the window.

She says an officer scolded her before he listened

Very concerned that someone might be trapped in the damaged pickup, she called 911 straight away to get the police and emergency services out. The call went straight to voicemail, though. Thinking she may have got the number wrong, she hung up and tried three more times. In total, she says she spent about 5.5 minutes trying to get through without speaking to anyone.

She eventually decided to leave the highway and sort it out herself, concerned that the pickup driver could be seriously injured. She spotted a police cruiser at an intersection, checked for oncoming traffic and ran the red light to cross the median and reach the officer.

According to her version of events, the officer came over and first reprimanded her for the traffic violation. She then explained what she said had happened on the highway and her attempts to contact 911. The officer went off to investigate the reported armed hit-and-run. The creator also remembers asking him, “What did you want me to do”

Her account raises issues around 911 response times and the reliability of the systems used to handle emergency calls, though it doesn’t tell us what actually happened at the dispatch center. NENA has a performance standard stating that 90% of calls should be answered within 15 seconds. That standard doesn’t tell us whether her calls were received, how they were handled or why she claims she couldn’t get through to an operator.

Emergency dispatchers raised concerns in the comments

The incident also triggered discussion in the comments, with a number of people identifying themselves as emergency dispatchers raising concerns about the alleged delay. Some discussed overflow procedures, which would allow a call to be passed to another line or center if the dispatch center was unable to take it. The creator’s account gives no indication as to whether such procedures were in place or used in this instance.

If it really happened as she says it did, then the difficulty she claims she had getting through to 911 would be a major issue. It hasn’t been independently verified, though. There are no call records or official statements confirming that her calls went unanswered, and no evidence to suggest this was a systemic failure in the 911 system.