I’m sure most people trying to avoid the police would be happy to escape them, but one man from Florida actually called to complain about the lack of pursuit.
The tales of Florida residents never fail to provide entertainment.
An officer attempted to pull over 19-year-old Nicholas Jones during a traffic stop in St Johns county, Florida earlier this month, but the teen decided he simply ‘didn’t want to’ stop.
Obviously it’s not an excuse which would hold up in court, but still the teen followed his ill-advised instinct and ignored the flashing, authoritative lights of the police car.
About an hour later the cocky teenager was still roaming free, so he decided to call 911 to get an update on his situation.
A recording of the call has been shared by police, in which Jones could be heard criticising the operator.
PixabayHe said:
What do we pay you guys for?
I mean [the police officer] turned his lights on me and got behind me and as he was walking up to my car I did a donut around him and left him.
It’s as good a confession as any, but the confusing nature of the call left the 911 dispatcher baffled.
They responded:
OK, you want to now see the officer. Or… What’s your question?
St. John's PoliceThe 19-year-old explained despite the fact he’d escaped the officer during the traffic stop, and passed numerous other police cars since then, he hadn’t yet been caught. For Jones, that was a situation which needed an explanation.
He continued:
Like… My question is … I’m assuming he put an APB out that has someone looking for my car… so like he definitely got the plate number but I’ve passed like four cops just driving around … Like what are you guys doing?
The phone operator simply said the authorities were ‘working on many calls’.
Take 55 seconds and listen to a suspect call police on himself.
"I like ran from a cop 30 minutes to an hour ago. Like what do we even pay you guys for… like I've driven past 4 cops."https://t.co/nkwsffCnGT @ActionNewsJax @WOKVNews
— Elizabeth Pace (@PaceAnJax) May 29, 2019
After Jones made the 911 call, the police proved their worth and arrested him the very next day by tracing his phone number, Action News Jax report. He was already wanted on a warrant for a previous incident, and was charged with reckless driving, escaping the police, misusing 911 and violating parole.
Police later said Jones fled the traffic stop because he thought it would be ‘fun’, and the 19-year-old reportedly added:
That cop had no right to stop me. I saw him turn his lights and sirens on and was going to stop but I didn’t want to.
PixabayAs it turned out, however, the officer who attempted to pull Jones over wouldn’t have been able to arrest him in the first place. Deputies revealed the officer did not have his tag number, meaning the authorities were only able to arrest the teen after he called 911.
Basically, he dobbed himself in.
According to the arrest report Jones laughed at the turn of events, saying:
That’s funny. So I told on myself? No cop can catch me in my Hyundai Elantra, that thing is fast.
The driver’s sense of humour is admittedly consistent, even though he did break the law. Hopefully he’s learned not to break the law in the first place, let alone about rubbing officer’s noses in their failures.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.