Oregon County Sheriff's Office/PexelsAn alleged domestic abuse victim’s daughter managed to secretly alert police to the crime by calling them and pretending to order pizza.
The woman wanted police to catch Simon Lopez, the alleged attacker, but she didn’t want him to hear her making the call and give him the chance to escape.
To keep the man who was hitting her mother ‘in the dark’, the daughter, who has not been named, decided to make a call on November 13 that wouldn’t cause alarm bells.
Check out the phone call here:
She dialled 911, but announced she’d like to order a pizza instead of asking for police.
Naturally the dispatcher was confused at first but thankfully it wasn’t long before they cottoned on to the fact the caller was secretly asking for help.
PixabayOregon dispatcher Tim Teneyck, who responded to the call, said that while domestic abuse calls are common he had never received one like this, ABC13 reports.
He explained:
You see it on Facebook, but it’s not something that anybody has ever been trained for. We’re just trained to listen.
Teneyck later said other dispatchers told him they wouldn’t have picked up on the underlying meaning of the call but he said his ‘intuition’ told him something wasn’t right.
Oregon County Sheriff's OfficeAfter hearing the caller trying to order pizza, the dispatcher told investigating officers to turn their sirens off when approaching the scene in Oregon.
A police report cited by The Blade says the victim told police Lopez arrived home intoxicated and started to argue with her. He allegedly punched her with a closed fist on her right arm and pushed her with enough force that she fell into a wall.
Thanks to the caller’s pizza-ordering tactic and the quick thinking of the dispatcher, the alleged abuser was successfully arrested before being locked up.
PexelsOregon Chief of Police Michael Navarre said that in his ’42 years of law enforcement’ he’d never heard of ordering a pizza as a way to indicate domestic violence, but he complimented Teneyck for his work.
Chief Navarre said:
Excellent dispatch work on the part of our dispatcher. Some dispatchers may have hung up.
He handled the call beautifully and it had a happy ending.
PixabayThough the pizza-ordering technique was not something the dispatcher or Chief were aware of, Navarre went on to encourage the idea of using a code to speak to police if you’re unable to talk openly.
He advised:
Somehow or another convey to that police dispatcher that you are in trouble… this woman did that. She did that not with her words, but with the tone of her voice.
Lopez remains in the Lucas County jail on a $50,000 bond.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence contact the 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline on 0808 2000 247. Do not suffer in silence.
Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.