Child’s Eerie Whispered 911 Call Saves Family From a Knife-Wielding Attacker

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by Adriana Velez 4 hours ago

"Help us." That's what a child's voice whispered to a 911 dispatcher -- a call that led to the rescue of a woman and her three children. The whispered call must have sent chills down the dispatcher's spine. What horrible act made this child call 911? Whatever was happening, clearly it was not over, and the child may have been risking their own safety with this cry for help.

Fortunately, that call was successful. Sunday morning police arrested Miguel Espada for attacking a woman named Melissa Armey. Armey says the two were arguing when Espada threw her to the kitchen floor and threatened her with a dart, gesturing that he would plunge it into her neck. "I'm gonna kill you," she claims he told her. Armey tried to run away, but Espada grabbed her hair and then threatened her again, this time with a butcher's knife. She says he made slashing gestures toward her neck, saying, "I'm going to kill you if you call the police. I hate you and your kids and I'm gonna kill you."

Hence the whispered call.

Armey and her kids did manage to make a break for it before Espada was arrested. According to the report, Espada lived in the house of the incident, so this sounds like it could have been a domestic abuse case. Thank goodness one of Armey's children was brave enough to get help. It's sad, but sometimes adults get caught in complicated situations and feel like they don't have options -- when actually they do. And it takes their children to recognize how dangerous and wrong their situation is and get help.

If this is a domestic abuse situation, I hope there's some follow-through that will keep Armey's family safe long-term. I was just reading this article about how inept our system usually is at dealing with domestic abuse, and how taking a different approach could save lives. This child's brave action got their family out of one dangerous situation -- I hope it also saves the family.

Would your children be brave enough to call 911 if you were being threatened?

Image via Shardayyy/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adriana Velez

is a staff writer who dabbles in food, parenting, news, entertainment, molecular biology, and anything else that that pops into her head. She lives with her elementary school-aged son in Brooklyn, land of urban farms and artisan everything.  

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