Safety Device Malfunctions, Reports Hostage Situation to Police
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CAMDEN, Tenn. – A Camden family was woken up to the sound of law enforcement beating on their front, saying they received an emergency call to the home about a hostage situation. The call came from Sip Relay, a company located in Utah, that makes emergency calls for people who are unable to do so themselves. But according to officers, it sent them to the wrong home. When officers entered the Batey family home, the family was alarmed, along with the five little girls spending the night. “When they walked in the house, they asked to see everyone’s hands, so there were a bunch of little girls holding up their hands(and) they didn’t know what was going on,” said Nathan Powell, who lives in the home. Dozens of county and city officers flooded the home after the emergency call came in. “Talking with some of the officers, they thought it was a glitch in the system (and) may not have been intentional,” said Benton County Sheriff Tony King. “And from (talking with) my dispatchers, we know they’re losing that facility at the end of the month, so maybe this wont be a problem in the future.” Unaware that the emergency call was a malfunction, officers began handcuffing people near the Batey’s home. “One of them grabbed me and pulled me outside the house and put me up against the wall and handcuffed me,” said Powell. Sheriff Tony King said no one knows if there was a hostage situation somewhere else. All they know is that nobody in the Batey’s home made that call for help. “We didn’t have anything to hide,” said Powell. “The only thing that was upsetting is we had a bunch of kids in the house who were trying to sleep.” WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News tried to contact Sip Relay, but today was the company’s last day in operation. Sheriff King said this is his first experience with an emergency device like this malfunctioning.
