By Janelle Stecklein, The Salt Lake Tribune

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A man who allegedly told Ogden police that they had nothing better to do than chauffeur him around town found out that police do occasionally give rides — to jail.

Ogden police said the 27-year-old man decided about 5 a.m. Friday to walk about seven blocks to the local Walmart, apparently not realizing it wasn’t open 24 hours.

When he discovered the Walmart was closed, the man called 911 and ordered dispatchers to send an officer to drive him home, police said.

At some point a police sergeant got on the phone to tell the man that officers don’t provide that type of service and that he needed to stop calling 911 when there wasn’t an emergency. The sergeant then offered to call the man a cab, police said. The man refused and continued to insist that an officer come pick him up because they “have nothing better to do,” police said.

Just a week prior, police said an Ogden officer had warned the same man — and his neighbor — to stop calling 911 when there wasn’t an emergency. The two had called police because they were having an unspecified dispute. So when the man continued to tie up the line Friday morning, Ogden police said they sent an officer to Walmart to pick up the man.

The officer arrested the man on suspicion of abuse of a 911 system, a class B misdemeanor, and gave him a ride to jail.

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