BOYLE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — It was a 911 call that could have turned tragic.
Emergency crews in Boyle County were delayed Monday because of a stolen road sign. They were trying to get to a child who couldn’t breathe.
“They were looking for the street sign and could not find it,” said Perryville Police Chief Parker Hatter told LEX 18. “So it actually delayed the call a few minutes longer than it needed to be and it was a small child in distress.”
Thankfully, the child was okay.
“As a parent, obviously it's your child, and you're really counting down the minutes,” he said. “And those minutes it took them to turn around and come back is precious, precious time.”
He tells us that crews do use GPS to get around, but it's not always accurate. Physical markers help them navigate faster.
When he learned about the stolen sign, Chief Hatter posted on Facebook asking would-be thieves to reconsider stealing a sign.
Within hours of his Facebook post, Chief Hatter says that transportation crews replaced the sign on Brumfield Road. Still, he says this is happening far too often and one day it could be deadly.
"As a first responder, we rely on that marker to get us where we're going. And could have turned out tragic because it was a small child," said Chief Hatter.
He's hoping people realize the potential dangers before a tragedy happens.
