Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Six-year-old boy calls the police after his father runs a red light

The father apologised for running the red light - and for bothering emergency dispatchers

Feliks Garcia
New York
Thursday 02 June 2016 09:42 EDT
Comments
Chris Collins/Getty
Chris Collins/Getty

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Although a six-year-old Massachusetts boy is not old enough to join the police force quite yet, he already seems determined to get his law enforcement work underway.

Quincy, Massachusetts, police posted audio of a 911 call made by the child, Robbie Richardson, after he says his father went through a red traffic light on the way to the car wash.

“My daddy went past a red light. He has a black truck,” young Robbie tells the dispatcher in the recording. “We had to go to the car wash and then he went past the red light.”

The dispatcher asked that the boy put his father, Michael Richardson, on the line.

“I apologise,” he said, laughing nervously before telling the dispatcher there was no emergency.

According to the Boston Globe, Michael tried to explain to his son that it is sometimes acceptable to make a right turn at a red light in many US cities.

Although Robbie was not in trouble for making the non-emergency 911 call over the weekend, his mother, Joleen, said they had to explain to him the importance of calling the line only in the event of an emergency.

“We talked to him, and told him you can only call in an emergency,” she said. She explained to the Globe that she had taught her son how to properly call 911, but “I didn’t think he was going to call like that.”

With public safety first in his list of priorities, Robbie knows that next time his father runs a red light he is not going to bother emergency dispatchers with such small offfences.

“When my daddy goes past a red light again, I’ll call the eye doctor,” he said. “So he can fix his eyes.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in