No sleeping on the job

This one comes from the funny files, but the story wasn't so funny at first.

Earlier today our assignment editor said he heard emergency crews being dispatched to a home on the northwest side of Oklahoma City for a baby who was non-responsive.  The initial call said that the baby was being watched by a 5-year old and no adults were around.

Our producer wanted me and a photographer to go check it out.  We were thinking to ourselves, why on Earth would anyone leave a 5-year old alone with a baby?

We arrived in the neighborhood, expected to see police, paramedics and some commotion, but there was nothing.   We drove up to the house and nobody was around.  There were no cars in the parking lot.  Nothing.

So, I walked up to the door, knocked and waited.  Finally, a small child opened the door and looked at me puzzled.  It was the "why is there a man in a suit on our porch?" look.  I'm assumed this was the 5-year old and asked, "Where are your parents?"

"They're not here," she said.  

I asked if there was anybody else there.
At that moment a young lady who couldn't have been older than 17 walked around the corner and peeked around my shoulder to see the News 9 truck sitting on the street. 

"Can I help you?", she asked.

I explained what we heard on the radio and why we were out there.

"No, it was a misunderstanding.  A false alarm", said the babysitter.

Turns out she was asleep.  A heavy sleep and the child couldn't wake her up.  The smart lil'girl called 911 and that's what started the ball rolling on the unwanted attention for this babysitter who learned a real hard lesson that many of us already know:

No sleeping on the job.

Rusty Surette