Calling 911 Won't Fix iPhone
If you're having a problem with your iPhone don't call 911. Apparently a man in Illinois forgot that little fact when he called 911 five times to complain about his busted iPhone. The result? The police came but he never did get his iPhone fixed, the police arrested him instead.
The Smoking Gun reported that last Wednesday, Michael Alan Skopec, 48, called 911 five times to complain about his malfunctioning smartphone. Cops traced the calls to Skopec's house where he was arrested after he "refused to comply with orders from deputies," according to a sheriff's spokesperson. Why Skopec was calling 911 instead of AppleCare remains unclear although the responding officers did report that he was intoxicated at the time. Skopec was charged with obstructing or resisting a peace officer. He was later released on his own recognizance and is next due in court on November 18.
This isn't the first incidence where the iPhone was involved in criminal activities. The popular Apple smartphone has seen some bizarre criminal behavior. Here are some highlights:
A senior citizen reportedly punched his teenager seat companion in the arm during a Southwest Airlines flight headed for Las Vegas last December for refusing to shut off his iPhone during the plane's landing, according to KBO12 News. Russell Miller, a 68-year-old resident of Idaho was charged with misdemeanor battery.
The iPhone has also been used to catch a thief ransacking a Denver home. According to 9 News the resident was checking in on her dog using an app called iCam that remotely access webcams in the house. Instead of seeing her dog, the resident caught a thief going through her belongings. The burglar was eventually arrested after his face was televised during a newscast.
A would-be robber has also attempted to use the iPhone as an accessory to crime. Jerome Taylor, 20, tried to rob a New London restaurant with an iPhone, according to MSNBC. The cooks at the restaurant confronted the robber. Taylor soon backed off and he was later arrested.]
In Australia a 16-year old thief stole a woman's iPhone last December. The thief fled the Melbourne area hospital but unfortunately for the young iPhone thief the cops used the iPhone's GPS coordinates to follow him as he made his getaway. He was arrested soon after.