Man Ticketed for Calling 911 Three Times...to Report a Break-In at His Mother's Home

A Detroit man who called 911 three times to report a break-in at his mother's apartment has been ticketed for "misuse" of the emergency line, even though the reason he kept calling was because it took police hours to show up.

Sean Street told Detroit Fox affiliate WJBK-TV his mother called him when she returned home and saw her front door had been kicked in. He called 911, then jumped in his car to go over to her apartment.

It took him an hour to get there, and when he arrived police hadn't shown up. He made another 911 call and another hour later they still hadn't come by, so he called a third time.

"[There] was no profanity whatsoever. I was very polite with them. The officer actually seemed very polite, also, and he told me let us handle it. Don't take matters into your own hands," Street told the station.

When police finally showed up, they talked to a witness who said he had seen two males wearing black hoods break into the home.

"[The officer said] there was nothing they could do about it," Street said. "I asked him if they would've came on time, the guys would've still been there? He said, if you want us to have a faster response time, contact the mayor to see if we can arrive on time faster and have more police officers."

Street said police never followed up with his mother, but that a week later he opened up his mail to find he'd been sent a misdemeanor ticket for "malicious use of communications device misuse of 911." It said Street repeatedly called 911, escalating a police run because he was unsatisfied with the response time, according to WJBK.

He must appear in court and if convicted, faces a $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail. He plans to contest the ticket.

"They found the time to write me a ticket," he said. "They never followed up with my mom about the investigation, the detective at all, but the detective actually had time to write me a ticket for that."