Wlaf1450LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – A LaFollette man called 911 on Jan. 24 around 3 am stating that he needed to speak with a law enforcement officer about an ongoing neighbor dispute.
Campbell County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brandon Gross responded to the call where the man told him his neighbor had a fire at his residence. He continued that the embers from the fire were going to catch his house on fire if the fire was not put out. Gross explained to the man that, just a few hours before, on Jan. 23 around 10 pm the Campbell County Rural Fire Service had been out and deemed the scene safe and there was no threat to his home.
At this point, the man, identified as Joe Scott Green, said “He could see flames coming across his neighbor’s house and his house was going to catch fire and he couldn’t sue his neighbor because his neighbor wasn’t worth a dime,” according to the report from the sheriff’s department. Gross told Green there was not anything law enforcement could do.
After the conversation, Gross contacted 911 Central Dispatch, and the operator told him that Green had called the 911 emergency lines four times between 1:59 am and 2:49 am. That was after the fire department had reported the fire was almost out and there was no threat to the Green’s residence when they left the scene earlier in the night. Dispatch also advised Gross they told Green not call 911 again “unless he had a true emergency.”
Gross noted in the report that Green did appear heavily intoxicated while speaking by slurring his words and being unsteady on his feet.
Green, 58, 193 Cove Pointe Road, LaFollette was arrested for misuse of the 911 emergency system. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 02/01/2021-6AM)