DeLAND, Fla. – Authorities released the quick-thinking 911 call made by a DeLand Animal Hospital receptionist after a domestic violence victim handed staff a note that said her boyfriend was threatening her.
DeLand police said that a woman handed staff members a note that said her boyfriend was armed and threatening her.
The employee who alerted authorities, Darla Fadden, told News 6 that she did what anyone would do: call 911.
“I just had a client come out of the bathroom and hand over a note that says, ‘Call the cops. My boyfriend is threatening me. He has a gun. Please don’t let him know,'" Fadden told dispatch in the call released by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday.
Fadden said after handing over the note, the victim walked back into an exam room where the couple was having their dog's ear infection looked at.
“She’s very shaky," Fadden told dispatch.
Fadden told News 6 she can still visualize the victim's hand shaking as she handed over the plea for help.
"I don't think I'll ever get that out of my mind," said Fadden.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said that Jeremy Floyd, 39, had been holding the victim against her will for days, after abusing her in their DeLand home.
A dispatcher asked Fadden if they could try and hold the couple there until law enforcement arrived.
"They just went into a room, so we’re going to have the doctor kind of stall with going in there," Fadden said on the 911 call.
Staff members said they quietly escorted everyone out of the lobby and then hid in the bathroom as DeLand police officers approached the room.
Officers said they found a loaded handgun on Floyd. The 39-year-old was arrested on several charges, including assault, false imprisonment and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the arrest report said.
"She is really the hero of this whole thing for reaching out to get help," Fadden said. "I just did it. I just, it's what anybody would have done."
As of Tuesday morning, Floyd was still being held in the Volusia County Jail on a $57,000 bond.