Leland man’s damaged smartphone calls 911 more than 2000 times

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — A Leland man’s water damaged phone began calling 911 continuously without him knowing. 

It all began last Saturday morning with a knock.  

“Sheriff’s deputy came to the door and it was about 4 o’clock in the morning,” Leland resident Cam Morgan said. 

The Brunswick County Officer responding to the home told Morgan more than 20 911 calls came from the home.

“I go back to bed. About 10 minutes later he’s tapping on my door again, and he said ‘what’s going on?’ I said ‘I don’t know.’ He said ‘since I left you, we’ve gotten—I forgot now—either 21 or 31 phone calls,” Morgan recalled. 

After Morgan got Spectrum to check his landline and found no problems, he eventually found out the calls were coming from an old, deactivated phone with water damage.  

When the officer returned later to remove the battery from the phone, it started smoking in Morgan’s home, burning a mark into his floor. The officer then kicked the phone outside before it exploded on the back porch.  

Director of New Hanover County 911 Hope Downs said calls were coming in almost non-stop. 

“Anytime the line disconnected it called back about 15 seconds later,” she said. 

From Friday to Tuesday, New Hanover County 911 received at least 1700 calls, though it was likely more than 2000. For reference, the call center receives between 1200-1300 calls a day. Brunswick County also received an additional 163 calls. 

Downs said if you have an old phone you’re not using, it’s best to safely remove the battery to prevent the phone from making calls, and if you accidentally call 911, she said don’t hang up.  

“Please do not hang up, just let the telecommunicator know that it was accidental. Because in the meantime, we’re tying up telecommunicators trying to get back to figure out if this is a true emergency or not,” Downs said.