A quick-thinking woman placing a bogus pizza order and a sharp 911 dispatcher teamed up to halt a recent domestic violence incident in Ohio, multiple news outlets reported.
According to Toledo's The Blade, an insistent caller ordering a large pizza amused dispatcher Tim Teneyck at first, and then he caught on.
Once Teneyck realized the caller was alerting him to a domestic violence assault in progress, he dispatched officers to the address so skillfully delivered without alerting the assailant. He even told responding officers to kill the lights and sirens before approach, WTVG reported.
Although he was never trained specifically to listen for random food orders as cries for help, Teneyck told The Washington Post he was taught to listen carefully to every single call.
"If it's your only option, and that abusive person is next to you and listening to everything you say, then by all means — you call and order that pizza," he told the Post.
Meanwhile, The Blade released the transcript of the call, including the following excerpts:
Teneyck: Oregon 911.
Caller: I would like to order a pizza.
Teneyck: You called 911 to order a pizza?
Caller: Uh, yeah.
Teneyck: This is the wrong number to call for a pizza.
The caller then said, "No," multiple times, and Teneyck connected the dots.
Teneyck: I'm getting you now. I got it.
"This dispatcher did a great job," Oregon Police Chief Michael Navarre told USA Today.
And because Teneyck handled the sensitive call with discretion and professionalism, police arrested Simon Lopez, 56, and charged him with misdemeanor domestic violence, The Blade reported.
Lopez, identified as the caller's mother's boyfriend, reportedly entered the home intoxicated and began assaulting the mother. The phony pizza order call was placed, Navarre told USA Today, because the caller "knew she would not be able to (report the incident) in his presence."
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