By Madeleine Marr
Source Miami Herald
An Internet prank seriously backfired for a South Florida YouTuber.
According to the Coral Springs Police Department, Jason Cid was arrested Thursday over a stunt late last month.
The 21-year-old, aka King Cid, was charged with misuse of 9-1-1, a third-degree felony.
Cid reportedly set up a video to bait police to see if they would get aggressive with him and his two friends, said Coral Springs Police Chief Clyde Parry.
The police department tweeted a clip explaining what happened Jan. 27, the day of the incident.
Cid was outside a Coral Springs gas station on North University Drive recording a video called “Coke Prank On Aggressive Cops!”
Parry says the North Lauderdale resident arranged for someone to dial 9-1-1 and lodge a “complaint” about suspicious activity around the station.
“How you doing? Is there a problem?” Cid asks the responding officer, who approaches the driver’s side of an orange Mercedes-Benz hatchback.
“I don’t know. Is there a problem?” the officer answers.
“We’re just chilling,” says another person in the car.
“Chilling and hanging out at a gas station?” says the officer.
In another part of the video, the young man in the passenger side nervously tells the officer, “We have stuff in the trunk, bro.”
What was in the trunk turned out to be Coke, as in Coca-Cola the soda, not cocaine.
Parry says not only was the practical joke not comical, but it also wasted his department’s resources. Four officers responded that day and spent 45 minutes over the false call. He said seven actual emergencies were held up.
“I’m personally offended,” Parry said. “A delay in response could mean a difference between life and death.
“This behavior isn’t funny,” the chief said, ading the “dangerous” hijinks could have led to “deadly consequences.”
Parry said that Cid, who has more than two million YouTube subscribers, got his comeuppance: “This prank is no laughing matter. As you can see, the joke’s on him.”
The other two people in the car were not identified. It’s unclear if they were also arrested.
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