911 Call of the Year

ShoogarBear · 03-24-2010

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‘Trapped’ by police, woman calls 911

Carly A. Houston was taken to the Naperville police station over the weekend, after she allegedly became embroiled in a heated, early morning dispute with a taxicab driver.

A police officer dutifully supplied the 29-year-old Chicago woman with a telephone, instructing her she could make one call to find a relative or friend who could come to the station to post her bail.

Instead, Houston used her call to dial 911, which immediately connected her to Naperville police dispatchers. She pleaded for help, complaining she was "trapped inside the detention facility," police said Monday.

Which, in turn, earned her another criminal charge, this one for making a false 911 report.

Houston's troubles began about 1:40 a.m. Sunday, when police were called to the BP service station at 901 N. Washington St., police Cmdr. Mike Anders said.

A cab driver there told police he had picked Houston up near the city's downtown, and that she had instructed him to drive north on Washington Street, Anders said.

When the driver asked for her specific destination, Houston allegedly "yelled, screamed, cursed and extended (both) middle fingers at the cab driver and threatened bodily harm" against him, Anders said. He stopped at the gas station, where employees and patrons were also "alarmed and disturbed" by her reputed behavior, he said.

Police "tried to intervene and reason with Ms. Houston" and persuade her to pay her $6.60 fare from downtown to the station, as the driver wanted nothing more to do with her at that point, Anders said. She allegedly refused to pay and continued with her disruptive behavior, at which point police arrested her and placed her inside a squad car, he said.

Houston was then taken to the police station for processing. While there at 3:10 a.m., Houston allegedly used a phone to call 911 "to report she's trapped inside the Naperville police detention facility," Anders said.

In addition to making a false 911 report, Houston was charged with theft of labor or services, criminal trespass to land and disorderly conduct. All of the charges are misdemeanors.

Houston was ultimately released on bail. Anders said she has an April 20 arraignment date scheduled in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton.