HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – Watch what your children take to bed.
A western Michigan couple was startled to hear their 3-year-old son speaking with a 911 dispatcher from his bedroom on an old Apple watch they believed was deactivated, WOOD-TV reported.
Leon Hendrix, a former reporter for the television station, was one of the stunned parents. He was chatting with his sister on his phone and his two boys were tucked into bed and asleep — or so he thought.
Landon Hendrix loves Mickey Mouse, and the old watch had a Disney mouse theme, WOOD reported.
“That was one of the original series watches,” the boys’ mother, Andrea Hendrix, told the television station. “I was like, ‘I haven’t used it in years, it’s probably not connected to a phone, what’s the harm in him looking at the Mickey Apple watch?’”
The parents soon found out after the boys’ baby monitor was activated by sound.
“I was listening, and I was like, ‘Wait, is that someone else talking?’” Andrea Hendrix told WOOD.
Both parents realized their child had called 911.
“We were freaking out,” Leon Hendrix told the television station.
“The kids are on the Apple watch calling 911 and he’s like, ‘Oh no,’” Andrea Hendrix said. “When it was happening, I was like freaking out. Obviously, because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he called 911.’ And I was like, ‘How long this has been going on for and are they on their way here?’”
The call lasted seven minutes, WOOD reported.
“We edited out the part where I charge into (the) room in my underwear,” Leon Hendrix joked to his former colleagues. “The old newsman in me, the first thing you go to is, ‘Did we get that on video or was that recorded?’”
It was.
Landon Hendrix can still play with the watch, but now it is in airplane mode. And the boy’s parents will no longer leave him unattended with the watch, WOOD reported.
“We do sincerely apologize for making this mistake and taking their time, we couldn’t be more grateful for the dispatchers and what they do,” Leon Hendrix told the television station.
Leon Hendrix posted the video on social media, adding that he heard from the dispatcher, who enjoyed watching the boys wave goodbye at the Apple watch during the call.
