A Johnston County 911 dispatcher is credited with going above and beyond the call of duty to help a woman locked in the trunk of a car.
Shortly after 4:00am last Saturday, January 14th, 911 Shift Supervisor Tim Medlin received a 911 cell phone call from a woman who said she had been abducted from Raleigh and placed in the trunk of a car which was now traveling down the highway. The woman was very upset. She had no idea where she was located or the direction the car was traveling. The phone call then suddenly disconnected. Efforts to call the phone number back were not successful.
Medlin immediately notified the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office and deputies began working with Verizon to track the location of the cell phone the victim had used. In the meantime, Medlin used a cell phone in the 911 Center to begin texting the victim. The woman was able to text Medlin a description of the car and information the she was likely being taken to Fayetteville.
By this time, Johnston County deputies had the tracking information on the cell phone and were able to notify Fayetteville Police, who located the vehicle and stopped the suspect.
Authorities later determined the incident was domestic related. The male driver was arrested.
Johnston County 911 Director Jason Barbour said Medlin was instrumental in making sure the woman was located and suffered no further harm. “I think that this call could have gone in several different ways,” Barbour said, “but it proves that when something like this happens that we come together to get the help where it needs to go. It was a great team effort.”
“It’s also an example of several workers going above call of duty and how well technology can be used to help our citizens,” Barbour added.
