Wow, if this isn't an endorsement for T-Mobile AND for youngsters to have cell phones, we don't know what is! Twelve-year-old Katie Ruiz managed to stop a robbery in progress at her home by using her new Sidekick to call 911.
On Wednesday night, four men stormed into the Ruiz's two-story home in Flushing, after threatening her cousin at gunpoint to let them in. Newsday reports that her father, who has a car-financing business, and stepbrother were made to stay on the second floor while her stepmother and cousin were "kept on the first floor."
Katie, a seventh grader who splits time between her father's house and her mother's home in Astoria, said she was doing math homework in an upstairs bedroom when she saw a man holding a gun rush past her door. She quickly ran to the closet.
"I remembered, 'Oh yeah, my phone is out there, I better get that,'" she said. She grabbed her phone -- a gift from her father -- and got back in the closet to call 911. "I was nervous because I couldn't control my phone because it's new," she said.
Katie's closet door was blocked by the bedroom door, which may have been why the men didn't find her as they ransacked the house. The 911 operator told her to stay put, even if her name was called "because they might be tricking you" and soon the police arrived.
The invaders tried to escape by jumping out of a second-floor window, but all were arrested and charged with burglary, robbery, unlawful imprisonment, and more. Katie's father called her a hero, and the girl did tell Newsday about one issue she had with her new Sidekick 3: "I dialed 911 but I hit the 'check' button instead of 'call.' I had to redial it."
