A Tennessee man was arrested Thursday after calling 911 more than 1100 times since mid-July — all for non-emergencies. During one of the calls, the man asked the 911 operator if they would like to buy some eggrolls.
The calls did not come from a dumb teenager during a misguided prank but from 54-year-old Memphis resident Huu Nguyen, KXAN reported. Nguyen was arrested for allegedly calling 911 about 1,171 times since July 15 with no discernible emergency. The police report, uploaded by The Smoking Gun, shows police alleged that Nguyen called 911 a total of 241 times on September 1 alone, and 32 times on September 2.
During one of the dozens of calls made on September 2, Nguyen allegedly asked 911 dispatchers if they wanted to buy some eggrolls before hanging up.
Nguyen made the calls from his personal cell phone. He was arrested outside a Memphis shopping center on Thursday and had his iPhone seized by police. He was charged with making non-emergency phone calls to 911, a misdemeanor. He was released on his own recognizance from Shelby County jail and must appear in court on November 20 for a hearing related to the charges.
The Smoking Gun reported that Nguyen “has several prior convictions for misusing the emergency dispatch system and has been branded a ‘habitual 911 abuser’ by police.”
“Nguyen was arrested yesterday outside a Memphis building that is home to a Vietnamese restaurant and the Oriental Best Market. The criminal complaint does not indicate whether Nguyen has any connection to either business (or ready access to egg rolls),” the outlet added.
The outlet has published numerous reports of other strange abuses of the 911 system. In May, a 50-year-old Ohio woman was arrested after calling 911 and claiming her “p**** was on fire” and needed the fire department to “put it out with their hose.” The woman, Katrina Morgan, hung up after her statement. When dispatchers called her back, she again said she repeated her claim. Cops went to Morgan’s house and reported that she “appeared highly intoxicated.” She was arrested.
In February, a 36-year-old Ohio woman, Seloni Khetarpal, was arrested after calling 911 “to complain that her parents had shut off her cellphone service,” the outlet reported. Khetarpal was told that 911 was only to be used for emergencies, but the woman called back two hours later to complain again. She was then arrested.
In January, a Wisconsin man called 911 four times in 37 minutes with some odd requests. Benjamin Duddles had been making odd 911 calls for the better part of a decade, including a 2013 call telling police he wanted “a female removed from his bed” because she was “now snoring like a train and he wants her out.” He had also previously called 911 to “tell dispatchers that he loved them.” His most recent calls told a female dispatcher, “It would be super duper cool if we could spend some quality time together.” In another call, he asked a male dispatcher, “Well, do you wanna, you know, fool around?”
Duddles was found to be intoxicated and was arrested.