DELTONA, Fla. – A Florida woman called 911 on June 8 to report that a child was drowning. But it turned out that no child was drowning.
What did happen though was two deputies were injured in a traffic crash as they responded to her call with lights and sirens activated.
The incident led to the arrest on Wednesday of Fabiola Robles, 47, who made the call and said a child was drowning.
She was charged with misuse of 911, a felony, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office. She was released from the Volusia County Branch Jail the same day after posting $5,000 bail.
Robles called 911 around 4:30 p.m. and told the call taker that “My next-door neighbor’s kid is drowning right now.”
A patrol vehicle headed to the call with lights and sirens activated was struck in a T-bone crash. Both deputies in the vehicle were taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment of their injuries.
When other deputies and the Deltona Fire Department arrived on the scene of the alleged drowning they quickly found that there wasn’t one.
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The neighbor at the house where the drowning was supposedly happening told deputies that Robles had been complaining all day about his children making noise in the backyard, the sheriff’s office stated.
There was no pool there. There was no other body of water. There was only an inflatable water slide.
Robles was asked if she actually saw a child drowning. Robles said she didn’t, the sheriff’s office stated.
The call type was then changed from a drowning to a noise complaint.
In addition to the three deputies and three Deltona fire units that responded to the false-drowning call, multiple deputies, the Deltona Fire Department, Volusia County EMS, and Florida Highway Patrol units responded to the scene of the traffic crash.
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