14 DAY TRIAL // This Monday, around 1 a.m. in the morning local time, a man in Idaho, US, got kicked out of a bar and was escorted to his house by a police officer who wanted to make sure that he would get home safely.
Apparently, the man misunderstood this simple gesture and assumed that the officer and all the other police crews in the city of Post Falls were his buddies and that he could turn to them for help whenever, even play pranks on them.
Hence the fact that, instead of going to bed after having been dropped off at his house, Phillip Poissonnier called the emergency number 911 a dozen times. Officers were not amused and the man now risks a hefty fine, even jail time.
There was nothing urgent about the man's emergency calls
DM tells us that, when he first called 911, the man asked that police officers be sent to his home to help him calculate his bar bill. Apparently, Phillip Poissonier was convinced the bartender had overcharged him and wanted to have backup when confronting him.
His request was ignored. Even so, the man soon enough dialed 911 again, asking when the required crew would at long last arrive at his home to help him settle things with the bartender who had undoubtedly taken him for a fool when handing him a $30 (€28) bill.
He was ignored again, and most likely just to have some fun, the man then started making emergency calls only to hang up before anyone had a chance to answer or dialing 911 and making the dispatchers listen to songs being played on the radio.
Phillip Poissonier now risks a fine, possibly even prison time
Since the emergency number 911 is for, well, emergencies, the man now risks being made to pay a fine of up to $1,000 (€930) for using it irresponsibly. What's more, it looks like he could also be sentenced to spending an entire year behind bars.
“He really started to take away from other citizens in the city who really have an emergency,” said Post Falls Police Captain Pat Knight, as cited by DM. “The consequences can be a $1,000 fine and year in jail, or both,” he went on to explain.
In case anyone was wondering, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the man's bar bill. On the contrary, the $30 he was asked to pay was just what he owed for the 10 beers he got to drink before he was kicked out of Club Tequila and was driven home by the police officer.