Two little boys who have a long wish list for Santa are going to see him in person today, which is what a police officer advised the Becker brothers to do after they called 911 hoping to talk to Saint Nick.
The boys – 6-year-old Blake and 3-year-old Brody – of Mayville, Wisconsin, were sitting with their parents, Jennifer and Shawn Blake, on the couch in front of the TV. Blake had a tablet and Brody was playing with his father’s cellphone.
“They were just sitting there, just talking and stuff and all of a sudden Blake said, ‘Brody, let’s call Santa,’” Jennifer Becker told ABC News in a Thursday interview. “Well, Brody ended up hitting the emergency call button on the cellphone and it dialed 911.”
Florida Police Officers Surprise Family With Christmas Tree Why One Couple ‘Canceled Christmas’ for Their 3 KidsThe Beckers didn’t know what their son had done until local emergency services called the cellphone to ask if everything was alright. Jennifer Becker, who told ABC that her sons have also dialed her co-workers accidentally, said she assured authorities there was nothing wrong.
Nevertheless, there was a knock at her door a short while later.
“The kids, they looked scared and I don’t know if it was because they thought it was, like, Santa Claus, but when we opened it, it was a police officer,” she said.
The Mayville Police officer who responded to the 911 hang-up on the afternoon of Nov. 23 explained to the Becker brothers that 911 was for emergencies only, Mayville Police Chief Christopher MacNeill told ABC News.
“The children were counseled as far as the proper use of 911 and they were told that the best way to contact Santa Claus was in person,” MacNeill said.
MacNeill said he had never heard of another such case in his more than 20 years in law enforcement.
“I kind of chuckled a little bit,” he said, describing his reaction to the call. “It’s good to know that there was no emergency but to hear that, you know, the two kids wanted to call Santa Claus, you know, was kind of humorous. But what we said is, basically, that the North Pole is out of our jurisdiction.”
Becker said she bears some of the blame for the accidental 911 call, adding that she and the boys had called an actual Santa Claus hotline -- (951) 262-3062 -- a few days earlier to leave a message about what they wanted for Christmas.
Callers to the hotline are greeted by a recording of a booming male voice purporting to be Santa. Callers are invited to leave a message with their Christmas wishes and cheer and "Santa" further ads that he knows who has been naughty or nice.
On their call to the hotline, “Brody was asking for trucks and big cars, and Blake, he wants a bow and arrow, truck, a four-wheeler combine,” Becker said, adding that she was surprised to hear her son spell out his Christmas wish list.
Blake and Brody got a tour of the Mayville Police Department Wednesday, where they received a helmet and toy police car.
The brothers will get to make their Christmas gift requests directly to Santa today when he visits Blake’s school, Becker said.