Imagine calling 911 for an emergency and the operator tells you she can't help you. That's what happened to one local woman. She shares her scary story exclusively with 11 News.

6:30am on a Sunday, Connie Chapman heard the scariest sound a woman, home alone, could ever hear. A stranger knocked at her bedroom door and was trying to get in. Luckily, her door was locked. Connie, half asleep, jumps out of bed and dials 911 on her cell phone.

From the actual phone call:
911 Operator: “911, what is the address of your emergency?”
Caller: “Someone is in my house.”
Operator: “Someone is in your house?”

Connie gives her address. The operator continues to ask questions.

Caller: "They knocked at my door and I said ‘hello’, and they didn't say anything."
Operator: "They knocked at your door and your door was unlocked?"
Caller: “No, my bedroom door.”

45 seconds into the call, the operator asked for Connie's address again, then asks where her house is located. Connie is shocked at what happens next.

Caller: “Security.”
Operator: “Okay, let me give you Sheriff’s Department number and you can give them a call.”
Caller: “Are you kidding me?”
Operator: “Yeah, you're in Security. Call 39...”

The operator gives Connie the non-emergent phone number to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. "When I hung up the phone with the first dispatcher, I thought, ‘What if I die before I can talk to the next one?’" Connie told 11 News.

She got a hold of the sheriff's office and deputies came to her home. Things turned out to be okay, but Connie is still irritated. Why did the 911 operator not stay on the line with her?

"It's very important to stay in contact with the caller." Lynn Sherman heads up the Colorado Springs 911 dispatch center. He said he can't comment on this particular call, calling it a confidential personal matter with the operator who spoke with Connie. Sherman told us that if you call 911 from a cell phone, it should end up at the appropriate 911 call center, closest to where you are. But somehow, that wasn't the case for Connie. She lives in Security and her call should've been sent to El Paso County's call center, but somehow, it landed in the city's. That still means, though the city has to deal with it. "One button transfer transfers to the appropriate agency. The operator prefaces that call to that agency and they stay on the line until they’re talking to caller," Sherman said.

Connie said no one from the dispatch center has called her to apologize. She's just happy nothing serious happened to her that Sunday morning. "I've never called 911 before. The first time I call, you think you'd get help."

The communications manager couldn't say what disciplinary action, if any, was taken against the operator, again citing personal issues. Important lesson for everyone: if you call 911 from your cell phone, make sure you state your address and what city you live in because it's never a guarantee you'll end up at the right call center.

The dispatch center receives 212,000 9-11 calls a year and they say, they average less than one complaint a month.