Nashville teen jailed on 911 harassment charge

An 18-year-old Maplewood High School student has now been in jail for four days after Metro Police said she made 108 false calls to 911 last week.

Diamond T. Hodges was approached by police at the East Nashville high school on Thursday before she was charged on an aggravated count of making a non-emergency 911 call — her second 911 harassment charge this year.

Emergency dispatchers said several false 911 calls had been coming from Hodges starting at 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday, continuing into Thursday at the high school, tying up the emergency response system. Dispatchers confirmed Hodges’ phone number had, at one point, made 86 false calls to dispatchers in a 24-hour period, according to an arrest affidavit.

Dispatchers said almost all of the calls were abrupt hangups. But on some, they heard a sound like deep breathing or a mechanical noise. Eventually, the sounds of children playing, squeaking gym shoes and bouncing basketballs led officers to the high school gym.

The last call from the number featured a police officer’s voice. He had found Hodges and the phone and called dispatch to confirm the number.

Hodges, who had previously been arrested on 911-related charges, later told an assistant principal that she knew making those false calls was wrong, the affidavit said. The teenager was then taken to jail because police believed she would continue to call dispatchers.

On Feb. 10, police cited Hodges after she was found in the school gym with a cellphone that had made 31 hang-up calls to 911 in one morning.

Her bond is set at $15,000 and she is due in court April 16.

Nashville first responders deal often with unneccssary calls to 911. A child in South Nashville made 162 calls in a 24-hour period in March. And a Tennessean review of police and court records found that 56 people were charged for harassing 911 calls in 2012 and 2013.

Staff Writer Tony Gonzalez contributed to this report. Reach Brian Wilson at 615-664-5970.