Medford, Ore — An Eagle Point man calls 911 to say he witnessed a murder, but police say the murder never happened and now he’s facing criminal charges.
MPD says this isn’t the first time he’s made a hoax call to police.
Medford police are calling it a dangerous waste of time after they responded last month to a call of a murder in progress at the Safeway on Crater Lake Highway only to find the call was a hoax.
Medford Police say even though they had their suspicions due to the nature of the call, they still sent three officers to the location where a caller said he had witnessed a murder.
When the officers arrived they arrested a 37-year old man wandering in the middle of traffic.
He’s facing charges of disorderly conduct and initiating a false report. The man told police he was testing their response time.
Police say calls like this are not only dangerous but a drain on resources.
“Usually we have calls stacked so we are trying to deal with calls as quickly as we can and people have to wait, well things like this will cause people to wait even longer when they feel like their emergency is a priority now we’ve got to deal with something that is completely false, didn’t happen,” said Lt. Mike Budreau.
In 2013, Medford Police say the same man walked into a bank and called 911 to report a robbery that never occurred.
Police say drugs and mental illness likely played a role in the man’s behavior.
The suspect was in Jackson County Circuit Court yesterday to face the charges.
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