WJLA, DC’s ABC affiliate, reports that Joe McCain called Alexandria 911 earlier in the week to complain that he was stuck in traffic.
A 911 tape, reportedly of Sen. John McCain’s brother Joe, could prove controversial for the McCain camp since the call was not for an emergency, but rather to complain about being stuck in traffic.
The call came into Alexandria’s 911 system on October 21.
Operator: 911 state your emergency
Caller: It’s not an emergency, but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic’s coming the other way?
Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)
Caller: “(Expletive) you.” (caller hangs up)
The complaint call about traffic on the Wilson Bridge forced the 911 dispatcher to call back. The voice mail on the other end, appears to belong to Joe McCain, brother of presidential candidate, John McCain. “Hi this is Joe McCain. I can’t take this message now because I’m involved in a very (inaudible) important political project. I hope on November 4th we have elected John.”
Aside from the curiosity factor, this really doesn’t have anything to do with John McCain or his qualifications to be president.
As to his brother, while this was obviously not an emergency, we have been trained over the years that 911 is the number to dial for police, with nearly half of 911 calls now for non-emergency purposes. Indeed, the practice is so ingrained that the phrase “911 non-emergency” is what emergency services are using to direct people to use the regular number. Some jurisdictions have just adapted to this reality and encourage people to call 911 for routine business, although a handful have come up with alternate numbers (311, I believe) for non-emergency use.
More interesting: How did this official tape get released to the press? Do they routinely do that for 911 calls? For non-emergency 911 calls? Or just to embarrass political candidates?
