Woman arrested for calling 911 for home delivery of cigarettes

The safest person to call?

A Texas woman wanted to make sheriff's deputies the butt of a joke — but she picked the wrong audience. On February 11, 2013, 48-year-old Linda White of Granbury called 911 to request home delivery of cigarettes.

Hood County sheriff's Lt. Kathy Jividen said White was "very intoxicated" when she placed the order. Instead of a delivery, she received a visit from two deputies — and an arrest on a misdemeanor count of abusing 911, punishable by up to $2,000 and 180 days in jail. She was released six hours later from the Hood County jail on a $1,000 bond.

White, who was with her boyfriend at the time, later explained her logic: "We were just kicking it in the back yard — a few beers too many. Next thing you know, we're out of cigarettes. Well, I didn't want to drive to town. ... I was drunk, you know, but in my back yard. Who's the safest person to call? Your police department, I thought."

The sheriff's office was not amused. "A call for deputies to bring cigarettes to the resident is not an emergency call," said Chief Deputy Biff Temple. White apologized — "I am deeply sorry for what I did. I'm embarrassed. It's not me" — before adding, "It is kind of funny."

Archive brief, February 2013, based on the Associated Press report.