Sleep paralysis demons are terrifying enough, but waking up to a group of cops standing over you in bed is probably just as traumatizing. One man in Louisiana woke up to such an experience after he went to bed to sleep off some alcohol he’d been drinking with an old friend. When he came to, several police and paramedics were in his bedroom, demanding that he get up and go to the hospital. But when he said he was fine, the officers threatened him with arrest if he didn’t comply.
Seeing how he didn’t have much of a choice, the man went with the police and paramedics to a hospital, where he was checked and promptly released. “Once at the hospital, the staff was confused as to why I was there, agreed with me that I had no medical reason to be there,” the Louisiana man recalled. His sister later came and took him back home, but the fact that this scenario happened at all is ridiculous. Not to mention, he was sent home with an outrageous bill of $800.
“Is this legal? Can police and paramedics threaten a person with arrest who is just sleeping off some booze in bed?” he complained on r/legaladvice. For context, though, the man’s friend was the one who allegedly called 911 after he had gone to bed. Apparently, he thought he had drunk too much alcohol and was worried about poisoning. But the threat of arrest and being forced to visit a hospital is quite suspicious, to say the least.
“Cops can lie to you. They can also arrest you for interfering with EMS. All of that was perfectly legal,” explains one commenter. They went on to suggest some ways the man could fight the bill of $800. But if all else fails, it’s also possible to just ignore paying it off, which could result in legal trouble. One person summarizes it all well: “Your friend basically panic-called you into an $800 nap. Cops can do a wellness check but threatening arrest to force a hospital trip when you’re coherent and fine is very questionable.“
Hopefully, the man figures something out, as being essentially forced to pay an $800 medical bill for nothing is wrong. At the very least, his friend should help out with the payment or owe him some sort of massive favor; it was his fault, after all.
