Police: Man Who Called 9-1-1 Lied About Having Chest Pains, Just Wanted Help Fixing His AC

Despite the plethora of services that are available these days at the touch of a button, there are still those who seem determined to stick with calling 9-1-1 — even when there’s no actual emergency. Police in Pennsylvania say a man who called complaining of chest pains was fit as a fiddle, and actually just needed help fixing his air conditioning.

During a conversation with a police dispatcher, the 27-year-old also said he was having difficulty breathing, according to a criminal complaint cited by the Smoking Gun. But when emergency medical personnel arrived at his apartment, he “related to them that he was fine and did not have any medical issues,” the complaint says. “However he was having issues with his air conditioning and asked if they could fix it.”

Paramedics didn’t stick around to tinker with his AC, and instead notified 9-1-1 that the call had been bogus, leaving for a “pending true medical emergency.”

The complaint says the man has made “false/misleading/non emergency calls” on more than 60 occasions over the last three years. He was arrested last December for prior 9-1-1 calls, though criminal charges were later withdrawn as part of a plea deal, wherein he wasn’t supposed to make such calls anymore

He’s been accused of obstructing emergency services and disorderly conduct, and is scheduled to appear in court in August on the two misdemeanor charges.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of people misusing the 9-1-1 system when they found something in their life was amiss: There was the man who called 9-1-1 a dozen times claiming he was overcharged for beer; people who called police because Facebook was down; a man who called 9-1-1 repeatedly because his wife threw his beer away and the Subway customer who called emergency services when he got the wrong sauce on his flatizza. And that’s just to mention a few.

Cops: Man Called 911 To Get Help Fixing His AC [The Smoking Gun]


by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

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