An 8-year-old boy dialed 911 looking for help with his math homework—but the police soon discovered he had a much bigger problem, and they rushed to his home.
Ryan Crosby sat at his desk, staring at the blank wall and the math book in front of him. “How am I supposed to solve this one?” he muttered.
He had a math assignment due the next day and couldn’t figure out a few of the problems. Even searching online didn’t give him the step-by-step guidance he needed. That’s when Ryan decided to pick up the phone and call 911.
“911. What’s your emergency?” came the operator’s voice.
The emergency unit in that part of Madison was used to all kinds of calls, but this one was unlike anything they’d received before.
“Come again? You need help with math???” the dispatcher asked in disbelief after hearing Ryan’s request.
“Yes, I do,” Ryan said sincerely. “My mom always told me I shouldn’t be scared to call 911 if I needed help.”
The operator wondered if this was a prank. They often received fake calls from kids, especially around Halloween. She didn’t take his request for math help too seriously at first.
Still, something about the situation didn’t feel quite right.
“Listen, son… What’s your name?” she asked.
“My name is Ryan,” he answered.
“Ryan, this isn’t a tutoring line… this is for emergencies,” the operator explained. “Is there any actual emergency we can help you with?”
But Ryan kept insisting he only needed help with his math problems. “Please! My mom told me 911 helps… help me with this, please!” he pleaded.
The operator considered ending the call, but something made her want to dig a little deeper. She decided to ask to speak with his mother.
“Alright, I’ll transfer you to the non-emergency department. But first, can you put your mom on the phone?” she asked.
Ryan’s voice trembled. He explained that he wouldn’t have called 911 if his mom had been home.
“I see… Is there another adult with you in the house?” she asked.
“No, it’s just me,” Ryan admitted.
“You’re telling me you’re all alone in the house right now?”
“Yes.”
That answer changed everything. “Hold on, Ryan… stay on the line,” she told him as she quickly traced his location.
Within minutes, police officers were dispatched to his address. When they arrived, they found the boy alone in the house—at 10 p.m.
“Hi, Ryan. Where’s your mother? How long have you been here alone?” one of the officers asked calmly.
Ryan explained that when he came home from school that afternoon, the house was empty. “I had the spare keys with me,” he added.
The officers immediately sensed something was wrong. They tried calling his mother, Matilda, but her phone was switched off.
One officer turned to his partner. “Something’s not right… You stay with him while we search.”
Moments later, a call came in from the control room with the last known location of Matilda’s phone.
“What… What’s happening? Where’s my mom?” Ryan asked, his voice shaking.
One officer stayed with him while the others raced to the coordinates in their patrol car.
The signal led them to the outskirts of town. “Her phone last pinged in this area… Check over there,” an officer instructed, pointing to an abandoned mill.
They searched the place thoroughly for half an hour but found nothing. Soon, a K9 unit arrived. They gave the dog, Caesar, a scarf belonging to Matilda to sniff.
Almost immediately, Caesar headed off in a new direction. About ten minutes later, they came upon a car sitting in the middle of a deserted road.
“Officers, stay back… be alert,” one cop warned.
As they approached, they surrounded the vehicle and peered inside. Matilda was lying motionless on the seat.
“Let’s get her out!” an officer shouted.
An ambulance arrived within ten minutes, and Matilda was rushed to the hospital.
When she regained consciousness, an officer asked gently, “Mrs. Crosby? Are you alright? Can you tell us what happened?”
Matilda explained that she’d gone to visit her sister in a nearby town that morning.
“I decided to shop on the way back and took a shortcut through here,” she said. “But while driving, I suddenly blacked out… I don’t remember anything after that.”
Doctors later determined that she had fainted from heat exhaustion. Her phone had died, and she’d been unconscious in the car all day. Fortunately, one of the windows had been left open, which likely saved her life.
The officer told her exactly how they had found her. “It looks like the 911 call Ryan made ended up saving your life.”
Later, an officer drove Matilda home. As soon as she walked through the door, Ryan ran to her and hugged her tightly, tears streaming down his face. “Mommy! I missed you… Where were you?” he sobbed.
Matilda kissed him and held him close. She realized that telling her son to never be afraid to call 911 had been the right thing to do.
“You saved my life,” she told him with a smile.
The experience became a powerful example for her friends and family. They began teaching their children not to hesitate to call 911 in times of need.
Lessons from the story:
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Teach children the importance of calling 911 in emergencies. Ryan’s mom had always told him to call if he ever needed help. While he originally dialed the number seeking assistance with his homework, that call ended up saving her life.
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Listen carefully to what children say. Sometimes there’s more to their words than it first appears. When Ryan told the dispatcher he was alone at night, she acted quickly. That decision led officers to discover his mother was missing and set in motion the search that brought her home safely.