Teenage Girl calls 911 to have Police kill spider in her house

[Sunni Man]

"I'm home alone and there is a giant spider on the back of my couch, and I'm talking giant. I've never seen a spider this big and I have no idea what to do," she told the slightly perplexed dispatcher, according to 911 records.

The girl estimated the spider was the size of a baseball, similar to a tarantula. She said spiders don't typically scare her, but a family member was recently bit by one and had to go to the hospital.

Plus, she said, this was a "massive freaking creature."

"I don't know if you guys have anything I can do, or if I just sit here and stare at it and wait for someone to get home to kill it," she told the dispatcher.


After the dispatcher pondered how to handle the situation, he agreed to have an officer contact her.

An officer did respond to the scene and estimated the spider was about 2 inches in diameter. Modern police equipment was not necessary to handle the eight-legged perp in this case.

The officer disposed of the spider with an old-fashioned rolled up newspaper, police said.

Forest Grove police said it's not normal for them to respond to a call about an arachnid, but they decided to help the young lady out in this instance.

Police respond to call about 'massive freaking' spider - KPTV - FOX 12

 

[George Costanza]

"I'm home alone and there is a giant spider on the back of my couch, and I'm talking giant. I've never seen a spider this big and I have no idea what to do," she told the slightly perplexed dispatcher, according to 911 records.

The girl estimated the spider was the size of a baseball, similar to a tarantula. She said spiders don't typically scare her, but a family member was recently bit by one and had to go to the hospital.

Plus, she said, this was a "massive freaking creature."

"I don't know if you guys have anything I can do, or if I just sit here and stare at it and wait for someone to get home to kill it," she told the dispatcher.


After the dispatcher pondered how to handle the situation, he agreed to have an officer contact her.

An officer did respond to the scene and estimated the spider was about 2 inches in diameter. Modern police equipment was not necessary to handle the eight-legged perp in this case.

The officer disposed of the spider with an old-fashioned rolled up newspaper, police said.

Forest Grove police said it's not normal for them to respond to a call about an arachnid, but they decided to help the young lady out in this instance.

Police respond to call about 'massive freaking' spider - KPTV - FOX 12

I don't see a major problem with this. The dispatcher obviously made a judgment call. Probably there wasn't too much else going on at the time, so they could send a car over. A spider 2 inches in diameter is a big spider. I'm not sure I would have called 911, but I probably would have called my wife to take care of it - that's what usually happens around Costanza Towers when a scary bug appears.

Fun post, Sunni Man - how ya been? Good to see you again.

Edit Note: Interesting (at least to me) side note here. I clicked on the spider story link in the OP. It takes you to a site called Oregon Fox 12 which is some kind of Web site based in Oregon that is a news message board comment site. One of the more interesting sites I have seen. You can comment on this (and other) news stories and your comment immediately gets rated by others. Kind of fun.

 

[testarosa]

"I'm home alone and there is a giant spider on the back of my couch, and I'm talking giant. I've never seen a spider this big and I have no idea what to do," she told the slightly perplexed dispatcher, according to 911 records.

The girl estimated the spider was the size of a baseball, similar to a tarantula. She said spiders don't typically scare her, but a family member was recently bit by one and had to go to the hospital.

Plus, she said, this was a "massive freaking creature."

"I don't know if you guys have anything I can do, or if I just sit here and stare at it and wait for someone to get home to kill it," she told the dispatcher.


After the dispatcher pondered how to handle the situation, he agreed to have an officer contact her.

An officer did respond to the scene and estimated the spider was about 2 inches in diameter. Modern police equipment was not necessary to handle the eight-legged perp in this case.

The officer disposed of the spider with an old-fashioned rolled up newspaper, police said.

Forest Grove police said it's not normal for them to respond to a call about an arachnid, but they decided to help the young lady out in this instance.

Police respond to call about 'massive freaking' spider - KPTV - FOX 12

 

[Katzndogz]

A girl is home alone sees a big spider and doesn't know what to do. We teach children to call police emergency, when there is an emergency. To her it was an emergency. Someone she knew was injured by a spider bite. This should not be unusual.

 

[testarosa]

This is funny as hell because I know teen girls who would panic and do that. But seriously, if there's a call made to 911 THEY ARE COMING. Trust me. So he was dispatched anyhow when she called. He did a nice thing by killing it while he was there.

Still funny as hell.

 

[Tuatara]

Poor little spider. One day they will rise up and kill all humans and become the true masters of the earth.

 

[George Costanza]

This just in - the girl didn't call 911. She called the police dept. non-emergency number.

 

[Raven77]

Im thinking because a family member had to go to the hospital (because of a bite).....thats what really scared her.

Last week I saw this huge prehistoric looking spider crawling across my carpet. I couldnt get it in time and it disappeared. the thing not to do at midnight is get on the computer and see what kind it was. From the information I read...either it was a large house spider or a hobo spider. They both look almost identical. great!
After the initial painless bite...necrosis sets in and arm should fall off by morning. I think it was hobo...it had these huge visible genitals. oh how I hate big spiders.

 

[bianco]

"I'm home alone and there is a giant spider on the back of my couch, and I'm talking giant. I've never seen a spider this big and I have no idea what to do," she told the slightly perplexed dispatcher, according to 911 records.

The girl estimated the spider was the size of a baseball, similar to a tarantula. She said spiders don't typically scare her, but a family member was recently bit by one and had to go to the hospital.

Plus, she said, this was a "massive freaking creature."

"I don't know if you guys have anything I can do, or if I just sit here and stare at it and wait for someone to get home to kill it," she told the dispatcher.


After the dispatcher pondered how to handle the situation, he agreed to have an officer contact her.

An officer did respond to the scene and estimated the spider was about 2 inches in diameter. Modern police equipment was not necessary to handle the eight-legged perp in this case.

The officer disposed of the spider with an old-fashioned rolled up newspaper, police said.

Forest Grove police said it's not normal for them to respond to a call about an arachnid, but they decided to help the young lady out in this instance.

Police respond to call about 'massive freaking' spider - KPTV - FOX 12

A citizen in distress, a young female citizen in this case...a job for the 'to protect and serve' police.

What if...the girl was so frightened she had a panic attack, passed out, the spider bit her and she died?

Spiders are killers, depending on which species they are.
And some spiders about the size mentioned here are the most venomous in the world.

 

[Noomi]

Obviously not appropriate to call 911 to help with a spider, but a loved one was bitten and injured and she was afraid the same would happen to her. She did the only thing she could think of, and it worked out well for her.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Like George said, she didn't call 911...she called the nonemergency number, looking for advice. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

She first tried to reach her parents, family friends and neighbors. No luck. So, she called her best friend over, but said that girl couldn't kill the "massive" spider, either.

Makenna Sewell said her next move was to call the non-emergency police dispatch line.

"I didn't call 911," she said. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I basically called the dispatcher looking for advice."

It happened the night of Aug. 16. The girl told the dispatcher she had "a ridiculous question," before asking for help killing the spider. She described it as the size of a baseball and said a poisonous spider had recently bit her mother.

Police respond to call about 'massive freaking' spider - KPTV - FOX 12

 

[bianco]

Like George said, she didn't call 911...she called the nonemergency number, looking for advice. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

And to me.

Rumour has it that some venomous spiders can jump. [I don't know of any that can]
Maybe she'd heard the rumours and it made her even more afraid.