Local

Police seeing accidental 911 calls thanks to Apple Watches

CHARLOTTE — Apple Watches are equipped with a lifesaving feature, an emergency dialing feature that calls 911 dispatchers.

The watch could save lives but it's also creating a unique set of challenges because many people don't realize they're accidentally making emergency calls with them.

"You could hear it ringing. You could hear someone answer but there was no phone in my hand," Kim Sellers, a Mooresville woman, said.

An officer was called to her home to see if she was OK.

"They dispatched just to make sure, to confirm that was not a call and I couldn't respond the way I needed to," Sellers said.

Sellers didn't know her Apple Watch could call 911.

"If you hold it down a certain way, if you tilt your wrist a certain way it can trigger it," she said.

Even though the watch is giving people access to help, it's causing problems.

"We've had an uptick in those types of calls," Mooresville Chief Deputy Gerald Childress said.

Childress said that their 911 dispatchers' valuable time has been tied up by other false alarms.

"It's there as a security feature, so it's great to have, it's just educating yourself as to what may cause it to go off without you noticing it, or knowing it and being aware of that," Childress said.

Channel 9 has contacted Apple about the problem.

We're asking them how many accidental calls have been made locally. We're also asking Apple what they're doing to make sure this doesn't keep happening.

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