“Thank god,” a woman can be heard crying over and over again in footage recently released by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
She sobbed as deputies arrived in the field where she was being held by a man who the woman said attempted to rape her. That woman was able to get law enforcement to the scene this weekend by calling 911 at around 4 a.m. – and pretending to order a pizza.
Although the rumored “secret code” some have said 911 operators know about callers asking for pizza has been debunked as a myth, this time it did work to get authorities to the scene covertly.
Parts of the Volusia 911 call were shared by the sheriff’s office in a video. After the woman told emergency dispatchers that she wanted to order a pizza, they asked if she knew she was calling 911. Then, they began asking follow up questions about who she was with and where she was. Eventually, she asked then to use GPS services to locate her.
“I’m basically stuck in here,” she said at one point. Sheriff Mike Chitwood explained that communications staff “were able to triangulate her phone,” and send deputies to the approximate location of the caller.
“She was able to tell us that she was being held by one person, and that he was not armed,” said the sheriff.
Chitwood said in the video posted to YouTube that he was “so proud,” of the victim for finding a way to contact authorities. They found her in a field near a fernery – a place where ferns are grown – in Pierson, Fla., and arrested 27-year-old Luis Diego Hernandez-Moncayo, who was on top of the woman when deputies arrived.
Pierson is known for having multiple ferneries, and Chitwood said the woman explained that she knew Hernandez-Moncayo and went to have some drinks with him at one of those ferneries. However, after allegedly he snorted a line of cocaine, she said his demeanor changed and that he refused to let her go and tried to rape her.
Chitwood revealed that Hernandez-Moncayo, who he called a “scumbag” is in the country illegally and that he applied for asylum the day before the incident. The 27-year-old faces attempted sexual battery, battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment charges and is on an immigration detainer from the U.S. Border Patrol, said the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
Covertly contacting 911
While dispatchers were able to help the woman in Pierson, multiple sources – including Salem Health Hospitals & Clinics in Oregon and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department – have said it is a “myth” that they are trained to know a “secret code” about pizza delivery.
“Each time we see the social media meme about calling 911 and asking for a pizza, I worry,” said Andrea Tobin, communications shift supervisor at Willamette Valley Communications Center, per Salem Health’s website.
According to a 2019 article posted on the UW Madison police website, the myth had already been circulating for years by then. It said that the origins might be traced to a post from a 911 dispatcher who said they received a call from a woman ordering a pepperoni pizza because she didn’t want a person in the room to know she was calling 911.
“The story was further promoted by a Super Bowl ad in 2015 in an attempt to raise awareness about domestic violence,” said the UW Madison police.
It added that 911 dispatchers are not trained to automatically respond to a request for a pepperoni pizza as if it were an emergency, though dispatchers are trained to recognize odd conversations or requests and ask follow up questions for more information, just like the Volusia dispatchers did.
Toobin said there are risks associated with just asking for “pizza delivery” on a 911 call. Depending on the situation, dispatchers may dismiss the call as a prank or may be confused. Still, if a person is in a dangerous situation and feels the need to hide the fact they are calling from people around them, it is worth trying.
For example, NBC News reported on another incident in 2019 when a woman pretended to order pizza and was able to communicate to 911 dispatchers that she needed help with a domestic violence incident in Oregon, Ohio.
In some areas, another covert way to reach 911 is through text. Instructions for calling and texing 911 and information about the service are both available here.