‘I’m sorry, what?’: Georgia man calls 911 to report a possible prowler but says the dispatcher was on the other line with McDonald’s
A Georgia man called 911 on Valentine’s Day this year after his wife told him she suspected a prowler was breaking into their home. The man says he tried to call 911 three times from work before anyone answered, and once they did, they seemed to be ordering a McDonald’s breakfast on the other line.
According to Dylan Johnson, his wife said she thought she heard someone trying to break into their home in Windsor Forest, Georgia, “snooping around the house, knocking on the doors and banging on windows,” Johnson told Georgia news outlet WTOC. Johnson said, “I was panicking. My wife was home alone with my five-month-old daughter … and I was coming home not knowing what I was going to come home to.”
Johnson says he called non-emergency line first
After about three minutes into Johnson’s 911 call, you can hear the dispatcher talking to others around her and appearing to order breakfast. https://t.co/yteZwRzXwj
— WNDU (@16NewsNow) April 8, 2025
Reportedly, Johnson first called the Chatham County non-emergency line but received no answer. He then made three attempts to call 911 over nearly six minutes before finally reaching a dispatcher.
The dispatcher was recorded placing a breakfast order for a McDonald’s McGriddle sandwich during the call while still on the line with Johnson.
The dispatcher sounded distracted and was conversing with others in the background instead of focusing on the potential emergency. After nearly three minutes, the dispatcher asked Johnson to repeat what he had said.
According to Johnson, the dispatcher said, “Mhmm… McGriddle… *coughs* I’m sorry, what?” Johnson added, “I really couldn’t believe it. If it didn’t happen to me, I wouldn’t believe that it had happened to someone else. That’s how unbelievable it was.”
Chatham County where Windsor Forest is located has had issues with 911 response, with a significant percentage of calls being marked as abandoned in the previous year, according to reports. The county is working on building a new public safety facility to address these issues.
“That should never happen, okay? Your ordering breakfast should be different from answering a call. The two should never intertwine,” the Chatham County Chairman told WTOC of Johnson’s incident.
“When someone is calling 911, they need help. I want them to treat everything as an emergency as they should be,” County Chairman Johnson said. He added the Johnson 911 report is under review, and once the review is complete, he’ll discuss the next steps with the Chatham County Board of Commissioners.
The individual lurking outside Johnson’s home had left by the time police arrived. Johnson’s wife and their five-month-old daughter were unharmed but shaken by the incident.
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