MOUNT CARMEL -- A woman from Northumberland County is in trouble with the law after placing a series of harassing phone calls to police.
Bonnie Ziegler, 52, of Mount Carmel is facing charges of simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment.
Police said Ziegler called 911 seven times in a three-hour period, once to say she was dying, another to say she was mad police broke her door when they came to help her.
Tim Weaver heard all about those calls over the scanner Saturday night.
“I heard her calling about six times. I just kind of tuned it out. It was more of a joke, I guess,” said Weaver.
However, police didn't find the calls funny.
Officers said Ziegler made her first call at 10:23 p.m. on Saturday. She called the Northumberland County Communication Center on a non-emergency line to report threats.
Then at 10:41 p.m., she called the center on the emergency 911 line and said, “I'm dying, I'm dying. Maybe that will get a quicker response, but never mind we will be on the news."
Officers responded to her home, but she didn't answer the door or the phone, so police broke through her door only to find Ziegler okay.
After they left, Ziegler called 911 around midnight Sunday, screaming at the dispatcher that she was going to sue the county, the 911 center, and the police for breaking in her door.
She also said she was being sarcastic when she made the statement she was dying.
“The dispatchers are receiving several calls from these persons, which is jamming up the 911 lines for people that have legitimate emergencies,” said Mount Carmel Police Corporal Dave Donkochik.
After that, Ziegler began repeatedly calling 911, even once calling state police, who forwarded her to the communications center, to complain about police breaking her door.
When police returned to Ziegler's home, they said she kicked open her door, which hit an officer.
Ziegler was arrested and police said they did smell alcohol on Ziegler.
“When you have a real emergency, how are you going to get through? You got people drinking and playing around on the phone,” said neighbor Kelly McClain.
“You're tying up the line. What if there really was a big emergency and people couldn't get through?” said neighbor Jennifer Bozza.