According to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the boy was playing basketball outside of his home along the 2800-block of Long Shoals Road on Sunday morning.
That’s when his grandmother looked outside and saw him hanging from the basketball goal and called his father.
Deputies say the goal was only 61 inches off the ground.
WBTV has learned that the boy was cut down from the netting and a neighbor started giving him CPR.
The young boy was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center-Lincoln and then transferred to CMC-Main, in Charlotte.
He was listed in stable condition and alert Monday morning.
According to Rick Ellis, director of Lincoln County 911, the boy’s family had difficulties getting through to dispatchers.
“It appears the caller called from a cell phone initially, and it may have gone to Gaston County, who tried to transfer it back and couldn’t get a transfer,” Ellis said. “What we believe happened is the caller (then) went to the neighbor’s house and called 911 from a landline.”
Ellis said it is not unusual for cell phone towers to confuse a caller’s location and send their 911 call to the wrong county.
If possible, he recommends dialing 911 from a landline.
However, Ellis tells WBTV 73% of the calls that Lincoln County Dispatchers receive come from mobile devices.
His department is investigating why Sunday’s calls were dropped.
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