Chinese drunk gets eight months in prison for making 8,700 abusive calls to emergency services
- Defendant admits to drinking half a litre of rice wine a day
- Judge says he wasted people’s time and caused dispatchers mental distress
A man from east China who made more than 8,700 drunken and abusive calls to the emergency services has been sentenced to eight months in prison.
The defendant, surnamed Zhang from the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, was charged with calling the 110, 119 and 120 emergency numbers and berating the dispatchers, the Yinzhou District People’s Court said last week.
Over more than a year, starting in June 2017, Zhang wasted people’s time, put the safety of the public in jeopardy and caused upset to the call handlers, the presiding judge said in a statement.
“Not only did he affect officers’ emergency response, those with a real need for help had to wait longer due to him occupying the line. He also negatively affected the dispatchers’ mental health,” he said.
Before appearing in court, Zhang had been given two administrative punishments after making more than 6,000 nuisance calls between June 2017 and February 2018. But they failed to deter him and between April and September 2018 he made a further 2,700 calls, which led to his arrest.