FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a conversation every family should have with their little one: How to call 911.
In this day and age, do they know how to call 911 on a locked smartphone? I spoke with 7-year-old Jacob Peters, whose quick thinking saved his aunt's life.
A look at the drawings in his room, it’s easy to see that scary dinosaurs are Jacob’s passion.
“This one is a Spinosaurus. This one is a Stegosaurus,” said Jacob.
In early April, he was staying with his aunt, working on another drawing.
“I was drawing the Kraken, like the Kraken and the Loch Ness monster,” said Jacob.
Spending time with his aunt drawing those monsters led Jacob to receive a patch he now wears every day.
“My aunt — she's having some problems. I want you to call my mom,” said Jacob.
Early April, his call with a Williamson County 911 dispatcher was recorded.
“Do you know your address?”
“I don’t have one, I’m just a child,” replied Jacob. “She’s in a lot of pain.”
He told us what happened that day.
“My aunt went crazy, like a seizure crazy. Then when she came downstairs, she forgot everything,” he said.
It was his actions with his aunt’s phone that helped save her life, using her locked smartphone to dial 911.
He showed us what he learned in school.
"So you go into your phone. And then you hit emergency. And then you call. Then you hit the 911. I saved her life," said Jacob.
"You don’t want that call as a parent, ‘this is the Franklin police. We have Jacob with us,” said Philip Peters. “I’ll never forget he said that ‘I’m a little scared.’ So we were like let’s get there."
Dad, Philip Peters, said his sister-in-law is now safe and recovering at home thanks to the important lesson Jacob remembered from school.
“He said it’s cool. We had a firefighter come and had a big poster board and told us how to get to the emergency line,” said Peters.
Franklin police couldn't let Jacob's quick thinking couldn't go unrecognized.
They held a ceremony honoring Jacob for his bravery, awarding him a certificate of commendation, a bag of stickers and his patch.
"Officer Cohen was like, 'Your son is a hero. He saved her life.' That kind of hit. Like wow, he did,” said Peters.
For a brave 7-year-old, big dinosaurs really aren't that scary after all.
“The very first Jurassic Park is not scary,” said Jacob.
Jacob recently lost both grandfathers, making his quick thinking even more impressive.
The Philips hope Jacob's story encourages parents to have that conversation with their little one: how to dial 911, posting the home address in a known location, and knowing the full names of those in the household.
Not just "mom" and "dad."
If you have thoughts on this story, email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com.
