A picture of a building in Barnstaple, England. COURTESY: Barnstaple.co.uk
HYANNIS – Teresa Saunders called the Barnstable Police Department Monday to report an accident.
What would normally be a simple phone call turned into a comical 2 ½ minute conversation before Saunders and Officer Mark McWilliams realized they were in different countries.
Saunders wasn’t calling from Barnstable, Massachusetts – she was calling from Barnstaple, England.
After witnessing an accident, she used a search function on a smart phone to call police. And instead of reaching her local constabulary, the phone dialed Barnstable’s finest.
Officer McWilliams and Saunders then spent a couple of minutes in a “Who’s on First” like banter.
Neither could understand why the other didn’t know where the reported accident took place.
Saunders repeatedly said the crash happened between Mudeford and Ilfracombe. McWilliams kept asking where that was – with neither yet realizing they weren’t even on the same continent.
The confusion finally came to an end when McWilliams told Saunders she had called the Barnstable Police Department – in Massachusetts.
“There’s no way you can help me then, is there?” asked Saunders. McWilliams jokingly told her it would take 6 hours for them to respond.
They both had a good laugh before finally hanging up.
In an interview with the CapeCod.com NewsCenter, McWilliams said he initially wasn’t sure if it was some type of prank, but eventually realized the mix up.
“We get calls obviously from tourists, and they don’t know where they are. At first I thought maybe she was saying ‘Burger King’ and I couldn’t quite figure it out,” he said.
By MATT PITTA, CapeCod.com News Director
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