Man repeatedly calls 911 after mom takes his beer

32-year old Charles Dennison of Pasco, Florida was charged $150 after repeatedly calling 911 because his mother stole his beer.

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Red Leatherman

I don’t see where I claimed that a particular drunken escapade was caused by society. Alas I did say that the behavior was encouraged. I did not mean to imply that the drunken behavior is being encouraged.
The behavior that I believe is being encouraged is the call 911 for anything behavior.
I attempted to address the point by saying
“People do call 911 for the most asinine and impertinent reasons. Case in point, this story about Charles Dennison.”
My comment seemed to make sense when I read it but to make it ever so much clearer.
I think that people call 911 too damn much for reasons that do not require police interaction.
I do not know why a person would call 911 to get a policeman to get a girl out of her bed to make her go to school or why a drunk person would call a policeman to make his mother return his beer, it’s a stupid reason to call 911! okay?
I can see that Charles Dennison was drunk and I can see that his judgment was impaired. I am not trying to justify Charles Dennison’s actions. I do not see a conspiracy nor do I feel that calling 911 for the return of Charles Dennison’s beer was justified or reasonable nor do I think it even approaches any form of sane behavior.
OK, society doesn’t publish documents encouraging us to call 911 for small problems but if you think people aren’t encouraged in various ways by others in their social circles your not socializing much.
Red Leatherman

The sad part being that this is what we are being trained to do. No matter the issue we can have the law take care of the problem. Got a problem, pass a law.
One example of the problem with that sort of dependence is when someone gets jumped and thinks the cops are going to suddenly appear like superman protecting Lois Lane.
- Gloria
  
  “Got a problem, pass a law.”
  
  Hmm. I’d like to know what jurisdiction you live in, if it actually trains its citizens to call an emergency number for beers stolen by their mothers.
  - jeligula
    
    Red is actually correct. Permanent laws are made in reaction to temporary problems ALL THE TIME! At least here in the US. If a baby chokes on a Lego, they won’t tell the parents to keep Legos away from the baby, they will pass some sort of law to deal with so that it never happens again. Our lives are over-regulated and it will only get worse. So what jurisdiction are you living in, Gloria, because I would love to join you there, reality being what it is.
    - douqep
      
      Just where is it illegal to choke on a Lego? If you’re going to make these claims, how about some proof or real examples?
    - Gloria
      
      If a baby chokes on something due to poor or negligent design, then yes, it’s reasonable to expect the manufacturer to recall the product or for the government to reexamine the safety standards of that particular industry because obviously the industry may not be self-policing to a sufficient degree.
      
      But LEGO, by definition, is a tiny thing that fits into a mouth. And more importantly, it’s NOT sold as a toy for small children. It’s labelled as a choking hazard for kids commonly too young to know better.
      
      Your example is weird.
      
      Also, I don’t understand how “over-regulation” is related to a case that’s caused entirely by a person’s personal poor sense of judgment.
      
      If you call 911 because your mom stole your beer, the only person at fault is you. And possibly your mom — not for stealing your beer, but for not raising you to know better.
- Anonymous
  
  I understand what you’re trying to say. I have lived in the US for almost 20 years now and my interactions and observations have led me to believe that Americans seem to rush to their lawyers and their police when there is the slightest problem.
Anonymous

He wasn’t charged $150, he was jailed on $150 bond (seems about right) and charged with the criminal offense of making false calls to 911. In Florida this appears to be a “first degree misdemeanor,” punishable by a fine of up to $1000 and/or up to one year in prison. (See e.g. http://www.coj.net/Departments/Sheriffs+Office/About+the+JSO/FAQs+About+the+e911+System.htm , scroll down to “IS THERE A PENALTY FOR ABUSE OF 9-1-1?”)
Kerouac

I think there is a law against posting a story about a 911 call without having a clip of the call itself.

I’m calling 911.
No Imagination

People in the US are trained against exercising critical thinking skills. You can point fingers at a lot of contributors, including the individual who has decided it’s easier to follow what seems to be social norm rather than reason things out for himself. Also to blame: the media, for turning news into entertainment; the school system, for teaching us to follow the leader instead of showing creativity; the government, for desiring docile, obedient, cookie cutter citizens; and parents, for being too busy to be involved in their kids lives. I recognize that each and every one of these is a complete generalization. No particular person’s common sense or lack thereof can be blamed on the same circumstances as the next. All of these causes, taken together, have contributed to the dumbing down of the general population. We CAN act smarter. Just think before you open your mouth or hit the gas, or…
matari

This is serious! If this isn’t properly addressed then moms across this nation will think it’s okay to take beers from their drunk 32 y/o son’s.

Let’s start a campaign shall we?

Son’s Against Sobriety? S.O.S.!
- Xen0Phage
  
  A campaign will only work if it is a Grassroots campaign. I’m sure you can get some of the big beer manufacturers to spin off shell companies that can fund you.
- stegodon
  
  “This is serious! If this isn’t properly addressed then moms across this nation will think it’s okay to take beers from their drunk 32 y/o son’s.”
  
  indeed. better safe than sober.
Anonymous

I’m wondering how he got off with a $150 fine. I would have expected a much steeper penalty.
ally beaton

To look on the bright side, at least she let him use the ‘phone!!
Anonymous

$150 probably is steep for someone who seems to still be living at home.
Chaos Engineer

What I’ve learned from this is that it’s legal to steal beer in Pasco, FL. I’m not sure if there’s a limit on how much beer I can steal at once, but I should be OK if I go to a convenience store and shoplift one bottle at a time.

If the manager is foolish enough to call the police, then he’ll be arrested and I’ll have free run of the store.

Are you sure this is Pasco, FL? It sounds more like Heaven to me!
- Gloria
  
  I’m not sure you’re reading with both eyes open.
Red Leatherman

People do call 911 for the most asinine and impertinent reasons. Case in point, this story about Charles Dennison.
My point is that society has encouraged this behavior to the extent that while Charles Dennison obviously was reacting to a alcohol induced delusion that calling 911 was the thing to do. The behavior is encouraged.
I personally overheard a cop dealing with a mother that wanted him do come get her daughter out of bed for school. I won’t refer to the thousands of examples already in print about the calls to 911 that people make all the time but I believe that something in our society encourages that behavior.
- Anonymous
  
  “but I believe that something in our society encourages that behavior”
  
  Could it possibly be crap education standards?
- Jerril
  
  My point is that society has encouraged this behavior to the extent that while Charles Dennison obviously was reacting to a alcohol induced delusion that calling 911 was the thing to do. The behavior is encouraged.
  
  I’m not seeing how the behavior is encouraged. Using drunkards as evidence that a particular drunken escapade is caused by SOCIETY MAN is a bad choice – drunk people do many stupid things, and the cause is the alcohol soaked braincells misfiring.
  
  Society tells us to call 911 in an emergency. The alcoholic petulance tells him that his mom cutting him off was an emergency. Impaired judgement is a common side effect of alcohol.
  
  Other people call 911 for stupid things, sure. Not because society tells them to call 911 for small problems, but because that person has poor judgment.
  
  There’s no conspiracy, unless you count a weak educational system producing a few generations of people with weak critical thinking skills. These people make all kinds of stupid mistakes – they’re the same ones making unreasonable demands of service personnel and trying other stupid ideas that get themselves or other people hurt, or bankrupted (see, stock market).
Wingo

I think people are really missing the point here, which is that there is a serious lack of awesome audio to go with this story.
VICTOR JIMENEZ

Obviously he had enough beer, too much indeed.
toxonix

There is no way to infer anything about society from this incident because it took place in Florida. Things this stupid take place ‘only in Florida’.
Ugly Canuck

Aaaaw, let the baby have his bottle.