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Trouble Getting Through To 911

PLYMOUTH — After a car fell on a man in Luzerne County, his family members say their calls to 911 did not go through. Help still arrived within minutes an...
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PLYMOUTH -- After a car fell on a man in Luzerne County, his family members say their calls to 911 did not go through. Help still arrived within minutes and the communications center says there may be a lesson to learn from this family's experience.

You can still see handprints left on the Santa Fe SUV in Plymouth. The prints were left by people trying to lift it off the 25-year-old man trapped underneath.

"He was coming out, the car shifted and fell," said Cathlene Thomas of Plymouth.

The more than three-ton SUV was crushing Cathlene Thomas' son, Travis. He suffered broken bones and other injuries and is recovering in the hospital.

Thomas says she and three other family members tried more than a dozen times to call 911.

Thomas says each time family members heard a recorded message saying the communications center in Luzerne County was experiencing higher than normal call volumes.

"I'm angry. They are supposed to be there to help, but I couldn't get through to nobody," said Thomas.

Thomas didn't know that a neighbor did manage to get through to 911.

All the calls made by the family may have actually done more harm than good.

Luzerne County 911 says all the calls from the family and neighbors may have been what flooded the system and led to the high call volumes. They had four call takers available when Travis Thomas was trapped under this car.

"If that were my child, I'd be very upset. To be put on hold. I can't even imagine what that girl was thinking," said neighbor Dottie Krashmak.

"When you are in an emergency situation like this and your son is under a vehicle, you know everybody is calling. You know, 'Somebody please call! Everybody call! Somebody call!'" Thomas added.

Luzerne County 911 says although it's hard in an emergency situation, don't panic and be patient.

It will be harder to get through to a calltaker if you keep hanging up and calling back. They will be able to get through to you and your loved one faster,  if you stay on the line.

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