A toddlers’ obsession with Mickey Mouse became the source of one very hectic night for the Hendrix family and local first responders.
Leon and Andrea Hendrix of Hudsonville, Michigan, were enjoying a quiet Monday evening on Jan. 31 when around 9 p.m. they heard their 3-year-old son Landon babbling in the room he shares with his little brother — nothing unusual, they thought at first.
Andrea, who works from home, had been plugging away in their basement while Leon was on the phone with his sister.
But soon they heard someone talking back to their son, and recalled that they’d left a first-generation Apple Watch for Landon in his crib. The watch was decorated with the Mickey Mouse insignia — Landon’s favorite cartoon.
“That was one of the original series watches,” Andrew told NBC affiliate WOOD TV-8. “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?’”
Footage captured by the baby monitor in the boys’ room showed that Landon, with the Apple Watch fastened to his wrist, had crawled into his brother’s crib. The pair were sitting up when the mother of two young’uns, with one more on the way, heard a third voice through the monitor.
“I was listening, and I was like, ‘Wait is that someone else talking?’” said Andrea, who quickly realized her son had launched the smart watch’s emergency feature, which calls 911 from the device regardless of whether it’s connected to the internet for cellular service.
“When we realized this happened, we were freaking out,” Leon, a former WOOD reporter, told the network.
“The kids are on the Apple Watch calling 911 and he’s like, ‘Oh no,’” Andrea added. “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 log showed that Landon had spent seven minutes on the phone with a 911 operator. Thankfully, they’d already ascertained that there was no emergency afoot, so no first responders were dispatched to their home.
The Hendrix’s mishap caught the attention of local media when they shared the baby monitor recording on Facebook.
Wrote Leon, “My 3-year-old called 911 tonight. He took what we thought was a defunct Apple Watch to bed and next thing we know he’s talking to 911 on the watch. Here’s a clip. Learn from our errors, parents.”
He later joked with his former colleagues, “We edited out the part where I charge into room in my underwear. The old newsman in me, the first thing you go to is, ‘Did we get that on video or was that recorded?’”
The dispatcher, who spoke to Landon and his brother via the Apple Watch. also reached out to the family, assuring them that they’d enjoyed their chat with the two chatty children. “Loved seeing them wave goodbye,” they wrote in a private Facebook message to Leon.
“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,” said Leon.
