10-year-old stumped by math homework dials 911 in Colorado

Thursday, September 27, 2018
Child calls 911 for help with homework
A 10-year-old child who was struggling with homework decided it was a big emergency.

FORT COLLINS, Colorado (KTRK) -- When you have an emergency, who do you call? Well, as a general rule, you call 911.

For a 10-year-old child in Colorado, recently, homework was a real emergency.

When asked what the emergency was from the 911 operator, the child said, "This is not an emergency, but I'm 10 years old and I'm working on my math homework right now, and I can't figure out what 3,052 divided by 71 is."

The Fort Collins dispatcher Chris Clow was caught a bit off guard. Being attacked by long division usually doesn't count as a real emergency, but to this child it certainly was.

Being a good sport, the dispatcher went ahead and helped the child solve the equation using a calculator. The answer by the way is, 42.98, or rounded up, 43.

Officials do want to remind everyone that 911 should only be used for real emergencies.