Couple Ticketed for Calling 9-1-1 For Dog's Emergency
By: KTVI, St. Louis, MO for CNN
Updated: April 26, 2012
(O'Fallon, MO)--A Missouri couple is in trouble with the law for trying to save their dog. Police say their call to 9-1-1 was not a real emergency.
"It was the hardest thing I've ever been through," says Rose Laky.
"It was so fast and we were so upset, that all I could think of was to tell her you have to call for help," adds her husband, Randy Lakey.
With a dog the size of Oreo the Great Dane, the Lakeys of O'Fallon, Missouri certainly needed help. Oreo was like their third daughter, only bigger than the Lakeys' two grown girls now in their 20`s and no longer living at home.
They said Oreo stood 6`4' on her hind legs and weighed 140 pounds.
"And she just collapsed and fell into the wall and down to the ground; Nothing, I mean it was just so quick."
"I could barely get her off the ground at all. When I did, her head and her legs and everything she was just out of it."
They say police and an ambulance arrived within minutes of their 911 call. They said one ambulance worker made it clear right away there was a problem.
"She got into the middle of the room and she seen Oreo and she threw her hands up and said, It`s a dog -are you kidding me?' "
She said the other ambulance worker brought oxygen for Oreo and helped load her into their car. They got her to an emergency clinic, but it was too late. It would be hard enough to move on, with Oreo`s ashes all that remain of her now.
But the day after she died, police brought a summons for filing a false 911 report. Apparently, Rose Lakey referred to both her dog and her daughters during the call.
"24 hours later, they come to my door to give me a ticket, for asking for help," Rose says. "He just acted like we planned all of this.
We just needed help. There's nothing false about that."
Police said a 9-1-1 recording showed Rose Lakey clearly said her "daughter" needed help.
The Lakeys say they hoped for a little more understanding from police.
They`ll likely face a fine.
(Andy Banker, KTVI for CNN)
"It was the hardest thing I've ever been through," says Rose Laky.
"It was so fast and we were so upset, that all I could think of was to tell her you have to call for help," adds her husband, Randy Lakey.
With a dog the size of Oreo the Great Dane, the Lakeys of O'Fallon, Missouri certainly needed help. Oreo was like their third daughter, only bigger than the Lakeys' two grown girls now in their 20`s and no longer living at home.
They said Oreo stood 6`4' on her hind legs and weighed 140 pounds.
"And she just collapsed and fell into the wall and down to the ground; Nothing, I mean it was just so quick."
"I could barely get her off the ground at all. When I did, her head and her legs and everything she was just out of it."
They say police and an ambulance arrived within minutes of their 911 call. They said one ambulance worker made it clear right away there was a problem.
"She got into the middle of the room and she seen Oreo and she threw her hands up and said, It`s a dog -are you kidding me?' "
She said the other ambulance worker brought oxygen for Oreo and helped load her into their car. They got her to an emergency clinic, but it was too late. It would be hard enough to move on, with Oreo`s ashes all that remain of her now.
But the day after she died, police brought a summons for filing a false 911 report. Apparently, Rose Lakey referred to both her dog and her daughters during the call.
"24 hours later, they come to my door to give me a ticket, for asking for help," Rose says. "He just acted like we planned all of this.
We just needed help. There's nothing false about that."
Police said a 9-1-1 recording showed Rose Lakey clearly said her "daughter" needed help.
The Lakeys say they hoped for a little more understanding from police.
They`ll likely face a fine.
(Andy Banker, KTVI for CNN)
Comments
You know what some people do think of thier pets as thier kids and I understand she should not have refered to her pet as her daughter however they pay taxes just the same as the rest of us and it was an emergency to her therefore 911 is there to help we pay thier wages they need to do thier jobs and not ticket people who where truely in need of help..I am truely sorry for this families loss....and shame on those out there who think they deserve a fine! If the 911 operator had asked the right questions that they should be trained to do then they might have realized it was a dog...
Chrystal H.
April 27, 2012 at 5:15 pm
These people should have criminal Charges not just a ticket. What if a person died because emergency personnel were working on a dog.
Carla M.
April 26, 2012 at 10:23 pm
