A Florida man called 911 Wednesday night while camping at Lake Griffin State Park in Florida. Eduardo Raoul Garcia, 44, made the 911 call to report that he was receiving harassing phone calls. While on the phone with the dispatcher, Garcia decided that this would be a good time to improve his love life.
According to the arrest report, Garcia bragged to the female dispatcher that he had big muscles. He then went on to ask if the dispatcher was single. The dispatcher commented that it sounded like Garcia had been drinking and disconnected from the call. Garcia must have thought the dispatcher was playing hard to get since he called back two more times.
It is common procedure for 911 call centers to trace where a call is coming from. Sometimes it is not possible for a person to speak, and emergency services need to know where to go. At the very least, the phone number that calls 911 is logged. Fruitland Park Police were able to determine that the phone calls were coming from Lake Griffin State Park.
When police arrived at Lake Griffin State Park, a park ranger told police that a man who seemed confused checked in. Police determined that the phone number that called 911 belonged to Eduardo Garcia. A campsite was registered at the park to an Eduardo Garcia. Police went to the campsite, dialed Garcia’s phone number, and heard his phone ringing from inside his tent. Inside the tent, Garcia was found with a beer in his hand.
While Garcia was being handcuffed, he made threatening comments to the officers and stated that he wanted to headbutt and kill one of the officers. Garcia was arrested for misuse of the 911 system. This would not be the last crime that he committed on this night.
While police were driving away from the park, Garcia leaned up against the divider in the police car and spit through the cage. The spit hit one of the officers in the head and said that he wanted to kill the other police officer.
Garcia was transported to Lake County Jail. Along with the misuse of the 911 system, Garcia was also charged with battery on a law enforcement officer thanks to his actions while in the police car. Garcia is being held on a $2,500 bond.
It appears that Garcia did not get the date that he wanted. There are plenty of other options besides calling 911 to get a date.
[Image via Lake County Sherrif’s Office]