About
911 Emergency Calls are audio recordings of phone calls made to the 9-1-1 emergency telephone number in United States. Due to their easy accessibility, as they’re recognized as public records in many states, many audio recordings of emergency calls have been leaked online and subsequently gone viral since the advents of online file sharing in the early 2000s.
Origin
In 1967, the President’s Commission of Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice proposed that a nationwide number be created for reporting all emergencies. The following year, the American multinational telecommunications corporation AT&T implemented the 9-1-1 emergency number, with the first call placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Ranking Fite on February 16th, 1968.[1] On April 12th, 2006, YouTuber gabyu uploaded a recording of a 9-1-1 call from inside the World Trade Center during the tower collapse caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks (shown below). Within the next seven years, the video received more than 3.01 million views and 13,200 comments.
Spread
On May 12th, 2007, YouTuber Chase Nunes uploaded a video titled “Police Officer Steals Marijuana,” featuring a local news segment about a 9-1-1 call from a police officer who thought he had overdosed on marijuana (shown below, left). In the first seven years, the video gained over 3.39 million views and 4,900 comments. On May 26th, 2008, YouTuber skidoomxz550x uploaded a prank 9-1-1 call by a man claiming to have been hit by a car and attacked by a dog (shown below, right). In the following six years, the video garnered upwards of 1.31 million views and 1,800 comments.
On May 7th, 2009, YouTuber maverickzyn uploaded a clip from a local news report about a 17-year-old girl who was arrested for blurting the word “fuck” while making a 9-1-1 call regarding her sick father (shown below, left). Within five years, the video accumulated more than 1.08 million views and 11,900 comments. On April 24th, 2010, YouTuber noodl34u posted a 9-1-1 call from a young child asking for help with his math homework (shown below, right), receiving upwards of 2.04 million views and 8,400 comments in the next four years.
On January 5th, 2012, YouTuber Neuroticy2 posted a news report about a mother who asked 9-1-1 for permission prior to shooting an intruder with a shotgun (shown below, left). In the following two years, the video garnered more than 2.09 million views and 19,00 comments. On May 7th, YouTuber AmazingLife247 uploaded a recording of Ohio resident Charles Ramsey’s 9-1-1 call placed after he rescued kidnap victim Amanda Berry (shown below, right), which gained over 1.81 million views and 3,600 comments in the first three months.