Man threatens to sue Hastings police, calls 911, swears at dispatcher

A motorist reported seeing a male waving at vehicles with a flashlight in the 2100 block of Vermillion Street at 2:21 a.m.

An officer arrived on the scene and at first couldn’t locate the person. The officer then saw a man walking on the other side of the road, and he went to investigate.

The suspect couldn’t understand why the officer was stopping him, and he called the officer a “liar.” The man argued with the officer, threatened to sue the officer and the department, and then asked for proof of the call. The man, who appeared to be intoxicated, then demanded to speak with the police chief.

The man was walking home, he said, so officers left him alone and monitored him from a distance as he worked his way south. All the while, the man was on his cell phone speaking with a 911 operator.

An officer parked nearby could overhear the man’s conversation, as he was speaking loudly. The man was yelling and swearing at the dispatcher and called 911 four times.

Eventually, officers intervened again and transported the man to the detox facility. He had a preliminary breath test alcohol concentration of .165.

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