Woman Alerts Police of Hostage Situation Through Pizza Hut App 105
mpicpp writes with this ABC News story about how a Pizza Hut app may have saved a woman's life. "A Florida mother held hostage by her boyfriend used the Pizza Hut app to notify police she needed help, authorities said. Cheryl Treadway, 25, was allegedly being held at knife point in her home by Ethan Nickerson, 26, in Avon Park on Monday, the Highlands County Sheriff's Office told ABC News today. 'She was held hostage by him all day,' Public Information Officer Nell Hays said. Nickerson took away Treadway's phone, police said, but she was eventually able to persuade him to let her order a pizza using her Pizza Hut app. 'She told him, "The kids are hungry. Let's order a pizza. Let's get them some food,"' Hays said, noting that's when Treadway was able to sneak in a written message through the delivery. Along with her order of a small, classic pepperoni pizza, she wrote: 'Please help. Get 911 to me,' according to police. She also wrote: '911hostage help!'"
Have it your way! (Score:1)
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...and the pizza box was empty. But the policeman was grateful.
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that's cheesy.
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What? No Hashtags? #help #heldhostage #ohnoes
Re:Have it your way! (Score:4, Funny)
I think that counts as two toppings.
Re:Have it your way! (Score:5, Funny)
but your rescuers my have frosting on their fingers and jelly on their shirts...
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If I was the manager of that Pizza Hut, I'd give her a month of free pizza... Why? Because that woman went through hell and it would be a very small token of humanity to remind her that good people exist.
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Yeah, add obesity to her list of problems, way to help her out.
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It would actually be interesting to know whether or not the pizza was delivered and, if so, who by. I imagine that Pizza Hut would be reluctant to send someone into a potentially dangerous situation, so it probably wasn't delivered, but you never know.
Yes, that is clearly the most interesting thing about this story.
Extra anchovies (Score:2)
Remember, if the person holding you hostage is over your shoulder looking at the screen while you order, you can still call for help - just order the pizza with extra anchovies! You will either get the police, or at least Patrick Dempsey!
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I predict... (Score:4, Interesting)
swatting through pizzahut...
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you're right, I stopped going there -because- of the flies.
Kudos to her (Score:5, Insightful)
She kept her head under extremely stressful and frightening circumstances, and thought of a clever way to notify the authorities. Good for her!
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But the REAL heroes, let us not forget, are Pizza Hut! They had (1) the wisdom to read the message, and (2) the courage to call the cops!
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the courage to call the cops!
It's a fucked up world when a bystander needs courage to call the cops.
I don't want to know about a person who can see in something this small that the world is fucked up, but who apparently didn't notice before.
Yes, calling the cops requires courage, or foolishness. Sometimes they even shoot the victim, or a family member. Often they arrest the victim. And don't assume that being a witness will keep you from getting charged with something too, or "accidentally" shot.
There is a time to call the cops, this was probably one of those times. But asking for help from armed people w
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I've never felt that way, because I understand that only the craziest stories make the news and all the ordinary calls do not.
When I have called the cops, I made sure they had clear and accurate information and knew what to expect when they got there. That may not always be possible, but even with the horror stories, you generally find that someone got jumpy and feared for their life (perhaps wrongly) because they were expecting danger, or in some cases, had just been attacked.
Assuming you're level headed,
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You know, in this fucked up world the poor worker could still get a lecture from his manager for doing the right thing because "it could have been a prank" and "we could have been held responsible if anything happened".
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Like doing what you're (legally) supposed to do has ever shielded an employee from getting fired...
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It was just a matter of time (Score:1)
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It was Pizza Hut, at least you tried...
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"Finally, Domino's delivered something healthy.".. someone else's pizza!
Thank you! Thank you! Enjoy the buffet, tip your waiter and/or waitress!
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"Finally, Domino's delivered something healthy.".. someone else's pizza!
Thank you! Thank you! Enjoy the buffet, tip your waiter and/or waitress!
The indigestion will be with you all week...
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I used to live smack bang on the delivery border of my local pizza delivery. I lived above a shop opposite the railway bridge, and they would never deliver past the railway bridge.
When you told them the road name, they asked if you were past the railway bridge or not. Say yes, you get no pizza. Seriously. And there was no other takeaway that would deliver to you in the area. Say no, however, and they come and deliver no questions asked even if the driver rings to ask where you are.
One time the driver t
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Had relatives that lived just outside of delivery range. They used to have the pizza delivered to their car which was parked inside delivery range. They would just go sit in their car and wait for their pizza to show up. Always found that odd.
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Nope. No territory concerns - there were no cooperating franchise with territory on the other side of the line this time.
It is just management being stupid - trying to keep things simpler than they really are. You set a delivery limit so your car(s) can come back in reasonable time to make more deliveries. At times with little business, you obviously let them go beyond the limit. Better with a long delivery trip than none at all.
Usually, a hard limit isn't necessary. Pay the driver per delivery and this ta
Sometimes, people are their own worst enemy... (Score:3, Funny)
...as she demonstrated terrible choices in men AND pizza.
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...as she demonstrated terrible choices in men AND pizza.
She certainly had a terrible choice in that man, but the pizza saved her life!
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...as she demonstrated terrible choices in men AND pizza.
Your comment speaks volumes about you and says little about her.
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Ordering that pizza from Pizza Hut got her out of that predicament. ;)
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...as she demonstrated terrible choices in men AND pizza.
if i had any moderator points...
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LOL after these replies, it's a good thing you didn't make a dongle joke .
Re:Sometimes, people are their own worst enemy... (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it is pretty clear he is trying to create humor by commenting on the least relevant part of the story (the pizza, rather than the hostage situation) as well as juxtaposing the relative importance of choosing a partner (with kids no less) vs. brand of pizza to order.
In common parlance, this is know as a "joke".
You can go on and accuse me of having soggy knees now...
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If the woman would have just stfu and made his sandwich he wanted then none of the problems would have had to happen.
now instead we got some woman using a pizza app to get help cause she didn't want to make a sandwich. :P
Donut Shop App (Score:5, Funny)
Now if the local Donut Shop had an app, the response would have been quicker...
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I think you're described an ad from this year's Super Bowl, although it may have been based on a real incident.
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Nope, it was on the news within the last month.
Maybe legendary news on this site [snopes.com]?
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Really. I mean super bowl commercials are SO much more honest - there's no threat of false advertising charges for the news.
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This ad? From the No More Campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
I wonder if watching this superbowl ad saved this lady's life?
Re:Saw something like this on the news (Score:5, Informative)
If you work in an emergency call centre, most of the calls you get will be genuine emergencies. Though you might get the odd crank, when they start continuing on but acknowledging you ("Ma'am, this is an emergency line", "Yes, please", "Ma'am, we're not a pizza delivery", "No, no anchovies, thanks my husband hates them", "Ma'am, do you have an emergency?", "Yes, how long will it be?" etc.) it doesn't take a genius to work out what's happening.
Sure, you still get drunks, timewasters, etc. but if you even think for a second that there is a problem, you send out units anyway, even if just to avoid a repeat incident.
People are inherently skilled in conveying meaning without saying those particular words. It's a fabulous human skill. Even more fabulous when you can do it without alerting someone else listening in to one half of the conversation as to what's happening.
I have to say, one of the things I've always tried to pre-arrange is the "I'm in trouble call". If you call and use a certain keyword, that's me coming running. If you call and I ask if you're okay and you say "No, dur, I'm being taken hostage", then you're probably fine. If I say "Honestly, are you okay?" and you say "Yes, I'm fine", that's my cue to come running.
Pre-arrange such things with your family. Get a keyword between you. Or a private joke that you can deliberately ruin when you're actually in trouble. Something that others won't notice. Because the guy kidnapping your daughter might actually be that boyfriend she trusted and knows her well and that she has to phone daddy every Monday or he'll get suspicious, so he lets her but listens in. She might need that way to make herself known without anyone else noticing.
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You mean the boyfriend she trusted well enough to tell, "My dad is so lame! Not only does he make me call him once a week, he actually gave me a safeword. Can you believe it? I have to be super careful never to say the word 'trouse
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it doesn't take a genius to work out what's happening.
I'm not sure about the policies where you live, but where I live it's an offence to call emergency services with out a genuine emergency. Even if you prank call them you'll end up with a police car at your door if for nothing else than to hand you a fine.
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That's his point. He was providing an example of a hostage situation where someone can't answer the emergency operator directly, so they continue on as if they're having a normal conversation when really they aren't.
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Pre-arrange such things with your family. Get a keyword between you. Or a private joke that you can deliberately ruin when you're actually in trouble. Something that others won't notice. Because the guy kidnapping your daughter might actually be that boyfriend she trusted and knows her well and that she has to phone daddy every Monday or he'll get suspicious, so he lets her but listens in. She might need that way to make herself known without anyone else noticing.
Or, more simply, never let any of your family leave the house without an armed escort. Or just never leave the house at all. (You can always order in pizza).
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Answered "Yes" to the question "Do you want anchovies on that meat lovers special?"
There's gotta be something wrong! Send the SWAT team!
Hiding messages in unrelated data (Score:1)
Also known as steganography [wikipedia.org].
Re:Hiding messages in unrelated data (Score:4, Funny)
but this involved pizza, so it was probably more of a case of sausageography.
and it happened online, so it was really iSausageography.
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Should have used Jimmy John's would have delivered much faster
True, but if anyone freaked it might have ended badly.
Comment removed (Score:3)
Pepperoni, Olives and Cops. (Score:3, Funny)
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Useful (Score:4, Funny)
Clearly an urban legend (Score:2)
There is no such thing as a Pizza Hut where the staff reads the stuff you write in the extra line.