Warning: This article contains discussion of domestic violence which some readers may find distressing
A 911 dispatcher has spoken out after receiving a call from a woman who pretended to be ordering a pizza in order to save her mom.
When Tim Teneyck picked up a call on the evening of 13 November, 2019, he thought a woman who was calling about ordering pizza must've somehow dialled the wrong number or carrying out a prank call.
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Thankfully, the call operator quickly realised then 38-year-old Tiffany Urban's call was very much deliberate and about a much more serious matter.
Urban asked to order a pizza to her address and Teneyck quickly replied questioning why she called the emergency services for such a request, CNN reports.
Urban insisted she'd called the right number for a pizza and then detailed her address, stating the call handler wasn't 'understanding'.
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The caller's continued persistence soon resulted in Teneyck realising something more serious must be going on and he quickly came up with a way to gain more information from Urban about the situation she was in.
Once Teneyck clocked the call wasn't simply about pizza, Urban was able to communicate by answering 'Yup. I need a large pizza' or 'No. With pepperoni' to the 911 call handler's yes or no questions.
Teneyck soon ascertained Urban was in a dangerous situation involving alleged domestic violence and quickly dispatched members of the police, telling them to turn their sirens off just before they reached the property to maintain the pretence of a pizza delivery and not alert the alleged abuser.
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Teneyck tried to stay on the phone with Urban while the police made their way to her, however, she said she couldn't.
When police arrived at the property, they found three people at the home - Urban, her 57-year-old mom and her mom's boyfriend Simon Ray Lopez.
Urban called 911 after Lopez came home drunk and allegedly punched and pushed her mom, also threatening to 'beat her a**,' Oregon Police Department reported at the time as per NBC News.
The report stated: "Lopez was arrested on one count of 'domestic violence knowingly cause or attempt to cause physical harm to family or household member'."
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It added Lopez 'stated he did not put his hands on the victim, and he only wanted to go to bed'.
The incident has since been used in the training of 911 call operators - neither Teneyck nor chief of police in Oregon, Ohio Mike Navarre having heard of the method of ordering food to report a crime before, but learning it's sometimes taught at domestic violence support groups.
Navarre resolved: "A good dispatcher is going to recognize that this is a person who wants to talk and needs help. That is exactly what happened here.
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"Some dispatchers might hang up on this person, but it’s worth a try give it your best shot. That's what she did, and it worked out extremely well."
However, if you have the option to text authorities instead, this has been highlighted by certain police departments as being a better option given it's not standard procedure to communicate with police under the guise of a food delivery order and so the appeal for help could be at risk of being missed.
Sadly, Urban passed away from a cardiac arrest just weeks after her heroic call.
Her brother told NBC24: "It was a shining moment because that just kind of shows what kind of a person Tiffany was, that no matter what she's going to be there for her family."
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence 24 hours a day to the national domestic violence helpline on 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) 24/7. You can find a list of local resources here.
Topics: Crime, Food and Drink, Parenting, Police, True crime, US News
Poppy Bilderbeck