Fort Pierce man Paul Coombs arrested, accused of multiple 911 calls, claiming he'd been 'kidnapped'

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- A man accused of calling 911 seven times and saying he'd been "kidnapped by Checker Cab" was arrested by St. Lucie County Sheriff's officials on a misdemeanor charge, according to a recently released affidavit.

A sheriff's deputy Jan. 8 went to a Checker Cab facility on Glenview Avenue in Fort Pierce after a dispatch official said Paul Coombs, 38, dialed 911 from inside a Checker Cab and said he was being kidnapped.

The cab driver took Coombs back to the cab depot because of his "erratic behavior." Coombs smelled strongly of booze, appeared intoxicated, looked to have "urinated himself" and "rambled incoherently."

"He stated the cab driver kidnapped him and he did not know what was going on," an affidavit states.

The cabby said he tried to take Coombs to his home "somewhere off of Cortez (Boulevard)," but Coombs "possibly due to his intoxicated state" couldn't give his specific address.

"Coombs then became belligerent and accused the cab driver of kidnapping him," the affidavit states.
He ended up paying the $20 cab fare and asked to walk home.

In less than an hour beginning at 12:52 a.m., Coombs made a series of seven calls to 911 to report being kidnapped by Checker Cab, the affidavit states.

Told to stop dialing 911 or face possible incarceration, Coombs said he had a checkbook and didn't care about going to jail.

Coombs, of the 2100 block of Linda Sue Circle in Fort Pierce, was arrested on a public order crimes/misuse of 911 or 911 system charge.