CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - A young man with a large YouTube following dialed up trouble with the law in South Florida after, police said, he orchestrated a 911 call that elicited a police response under false pretenses.
Jason Sid, who has more than 2.4 million subscribers, is facing a felony charge as a result of the Jan. 27 prank in Coral Springs.
Sid is known for creating social media experiments to see how civilians and police react to made-up scenarios.
According to Coral Springs Police, officers were called to a gas station off University Drive after Sid called 911.
A video posted by Sid to his YouTube page, called “Coke prank on aggressive cops,” captured the moment a man spoke with the dispatcher using Sid’s cellphone.
“Hello, I’m calling because I see weird, suspicious activities at a gas station,” he said.
The caller, who, police said, was in on the joke, reported a man wearing all black sitting in a bright orange Mercedes-Benz SUV.
That man, investigators said, was Sid.
The video also showed the interaction between the suspect and an officer.
“How are you doing, officer? Is there a problem?” said Sid.
“I don’t know. Is there a problem?” said the officer.
“What’s going on, officer?” said a man sitting in the passenger seat.
Whart officers didn’t realize, at least not at first, was that the whole thing was fake, and they were being recorded on multiple cameras in multiple locations.
Coral Springs Police Chief Cyde Parry put out a video about the incident.
“Jason Sid did this in the hopes of showing how overly aggressive police officers are when they respond to these calls,” he said.
During the lengthy back-and-forth between Sid and the officer, the man in the passenger seat alluded to drugs in the trunk, which is a part of the prank.
“We got stuff in the car, man,” said the passenger.
Sid then told the man to stop talking.
After the exchange, Sid and the passenger were handcuffed and taken into custody.
When officers checked the trunk of the SUV, it was full of cans of Coke.
A few days later, Sid was placed under arrest and charged with misuse of 911. He was released shortly after after he posted a $2,500 bond.
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