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Man Calls 911 To Fix Broken iPhone

Posted by samzenpus on from the and-bring-me-a-pizza-while-you're-at-it dept.

tekgoblin writes "For some reason Michael Skopec of Illinois thought that calling 911 would get his broken iPhone fixed. It got him arrested instead. From the article: 'After the five calls were made police traced the calls to his home in Illinois where they found him drunk and belligerent. He was arrested because he would not follow the police officers orders. It has yet to be made clear what he was actually trying to accomplish by calling 911 to get help with his iPhone. Although he was arrested he only faces misdemeanor charges and has to be in court next week.'"

5 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. RTFA by jklovanc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here is the pertinent quote;
    "He was arrested because he would not follow the police officers orders."
    He was not arrested for making the calls; he was arrested for being a drunken idiot when the police responded to the multiple 911 calls. They may have even taken him into custody for his own protection if he was that drunk.

  2. Re:Locked screen? by moonbender · · Score: 3, Informative

    That seems unlikely. I think pretty much all GSM devices have the capability (apparently it's in the spec, "112" should work globally). The N900 just doesn't advertise the feature. It's mentioned in the manual, though: http://www.nokia.co.uk/gb-en/support/product/nokia-n900/userguide/?action=onlineuserguidepagechange&pFile=GUID-67F9E8D2-51A2-4A60-B635-69F60530E852-139_FILE001.html

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  3. Re:Locked screen? by BasilBrush · · Score: 3, Informative

    The reason all GSM phones have it is because it's a US requirement. Having developed the feature for the US market, the easiest thing is to have it on all phones, no matter where they are sold.

  4. Re:Locked screen? by xaxa · · Score: 3, Informative

    The reason all GSM phones have it is because it's a US requirement. Having developed the feature for the US market, the easiest thing is to have it on all phones, no matter where they are sold.

    I think you'll find its a European requirement. GSM originally meant "Groupe Spécial Mobile", which is a clue to its origin.

    My extremely old (early 1990s) GSM phone allowed dialling the emergency number even if the keypad was locked -- either 999, the normal UK number, or 112, which works in every European country (from landlines, too) and every GSM phone.

    The European law is from 1991.

  5. Re:Hey! by The+Phantom+Buffalo · · Score: 4, Informative

    411 is information, I think 611 is repairs.