After calling emergency services, IShowSpeed received a warning from the police and was even threatened with a felony penalty.
IShowSpeed has accumulated over 18 million YouTube subscribers since being kicked off Twitch. The YouTuber gets up to some pretty outrageous stuff, including lighting off pyrotechnics in his own home and startling the crowd by performing at the Rolling Loud music festival while streaming to hundreds of thousands of viewers. It’s safe to assume that his viewers also contribute significantly to his content, often mocking the aspiring actor and duping him into acting absurdly.
The 18-year-old was horrified to his core when two police officers showed up at his home during his July 23 live feed. Earlier in the same stream, Speed was instructed to call 112, the emergency services number in the EU that diverts to 911 in the United States, which brought about the police’s intervention. The YouTube star was questioned by the police about why he had called the number, and he explained that he had received the number from a friend on the PlayStation party chat and had no idea it was for the emergency services.
The officer then issued a rather serious warning to Speed, noting that it was already documented that the police had advised him not to phone 911 or 112, and that doing so would be a criminal of the fourth degree that might result in jail time. “Listen to me loud and clear, I would be very careful calling three-digit numbers that your friends tell you to call,” said the officer. “There’s a thing called disruption of public service. All right? You can look up the advice code if you want. It’s a felony of the fourth degree that carries prison time. Does that make sense? Do you understand that? This isn’t a joking matter.”
A fourth-degree felony carries a maximum punishment of 18 months in prison and a mandatory minimum of 6 months. A person accused of a crime may also be subject to community control for up to five years and pay fines of up to $5,000. Before they left, Speed gave the officers his word that he wouldn’t repeat his error.
