The Most Hilarious 911 Calls of 2010 and Beyond
From a bad manicure to whining that mom took your beer.
Dec. 29, 2010 — -- A bad manicure? Fed up with the media? It's nothing to dial 911 over.
Nevertheless, Americans this year dialed up the emergency line to whine about such problems.
Dispatchers who handle 911 calls are trained to handle a lot of situations, but some of the calls they get are anything but emergencies.
"We deal with prank calls and people checking in for the time of day," Florida's St. Lucie County Public Safety 911 operations coordinator Tiffany Bennett told ABCNews.com in 2009. "When you pick up that phone, you never know what's on the other end."
Her center has also gotten calls asking about holiday parade routes and how to fix a washing machine.
"Of course, you are going to giggle at some of the sillier stuff," she said.
The latest silly 911 call came from a Deltona, Fla., woman the day after Christmas. Cynthia Colston was arrested for calling 911 four times to complain about a nail technician.
Even with a police deputy sitting next to her, Colston dialed 911 complaining that her nails were cut too short. She refused to pay a technician the full price for the job.
Laurence Gauthier from central Florida has called 911 at least 16 times since November, ABC affiliate WFTV reported, including calls to request business cards and complain about the media.
On one call, he yelled into the phone, "I'm looking for TV news to be arrested."
When the 911 dispatcher told Gauthier that the line was for emergencies only, Gauthier agreed.
"I do not have an emergency," he said.
In Beaverton, Ore., a man called 911 to say he was stuck naked in a hotel hot tub. The homeless man, Mark Eskelson, asked for hot chocolate with marshmallows and a hug.
When he made the September call, he said that he was the local sheriff and couldn't get out because there were no towels.
This summer, an Ohio woman called 911 five times to say that she was having a hard time getting a date. She was trying to reach an automated dating service.
Police said the woman was drunk. She was charged with disorderly conduct.
In June, a woman called for more than a date, she called for a husband. An Ohio woman named Audrey Scott told a dispatcher, "Get me that husband."
When asked if she wanted to get arrested after being told that she could be for calling 911 with a non-emergency, she responded, "Let's do it."
Police did.
She spent three days in jail and was charged with a misdemeanor. Scott said that she was drunk when she made the call.
In June, a 32-year-old Pasco County, Fla., man called 911 to complain about his mother. According to a sheriff's office arrest report, Charles Dennison told a deputy that his mother took his beer away and he wanted her arrested.
Dennison reportedly was "very intoxicated" when the deputy arrived at the New Port Richey, Fla., home.
