A woman’s 911 call for cigarettes has been making the odd news rounds this slow news week, but the story made us wonder — was the Granbury, Texas woman’s emergency plea the stupidest of all time?
The Inquisitr covered the woman’s 911 call for cigarettes, and in our earlier report, we noted that the caller — who was subsequently arrested — apparently knew that the idea wasn’t clever, but thought it was humorous:
“Hood County sheriff’s Lt. Kathy Jividen said that the woman was “very intoxicated” when she made the call. Jividen also said that the woman was trying to be amusing when she ordered cigarettes from emergency dispatches. She later told police that she ‘thought it was funny to call 9-1-1 for cigarettes.’ “
Spoiler alert: police weren’t laughing. But the 911 call for cigarettes is just one of many dumb 911 calls to make national headlines, prompting us to take a look back at some of the stupidest 911 calls we’ve seen in recent years during the internet news cycle.
Last June, a Connecticut man called 911, but not for cigarettes. No, this was a far more grave circumstance, and arguably far more clearly criminal.
The reason for a request of police dispatch? He had received a subpar sandwich . At the time, the man pleaded with 911 operators to come right the wrong of the badly-constructed hoagie:
“I mean, I just want to solve this the right way … They are playing games with me, so I was just wondering if you could come by. I just want it resolved and I want to be able to come back here and get the regular sandwich that I ask for.”
But the 911 call for cigarettes and the sandwich plea hardly stand alone — back in 2009, a Florida woman rang up the emergencies-only line with another complaint of that ilk. McDonald’s was playing games with her McNuggets , and she was later charged with misuse of the 911 system.
Similar calls to 911 dispatch have been made over burgers in the past , but one stupid 911 call takes the cake.
Last year, Florida man Joshua Basso was arrested after repeatedly calling 911, again not for cigarettes — but for phone sex. The kicker? Basso had been previously arrested and charged for the same lewd behavior.
In light of that, is the 911 call for cigarettes all that unreasonable now?