911 Dispatcher Handles Call About Her Choking Son

A 911 dispatcher in California had to handle a call that struck particularly close to home—the caller was her fiance pleading for help because their toddler son was choking. "I heard him say an address and I perked up, and then I heard him say it again and I recognized that as my own home address," Britney Melchor of Marysville tells KTVU. All ended well, but not before some tense moments.

Robert Kimball called 911 after the 14-month-old boy swallowed a metal washer and began struggling to breathe. “Mommy mode kind of hit—like, that’s my son," Melchor tells KCRA. "I panicked. But then I was like, ‘You know what? I got to get him to the help he absolutely needs.'" She dispatched an ambulance, though Kimball got the washer dislodged just as paramedics arrived. Maverick was soon breathing normally. (Another 911 dispatcher took a call about her father on her first day.)