WINONA, Minn. – Finally after incessant calls to the 911 emergency line, police put Kenneth Dean Sjarpe, 61, of Winona, in jail – in a cell without a phone. Sjarpe first called about 6:05 p.m. that he had had an argument with another man at a coin-laundry and that the other man tried running him down with his car and sped off. With Sjarpe’s description of the car, deputies stopped the other man 20 miles away heading toward LaCrosse. The man denied the incident. Deputies didn’t have enough evidence for an arrest. Back in Winona at the coin laundry, officers advised Sjarpe that he was in no imminent danger and that they would look for video surveillance from nearby businesses for relevant evidence. The officers left. Over the next three hours, the police dispatcher took 10 calls at 911 with Sjarpe voicing displeasure over the disposition of the matter. He threatened to hurt the other guy. He swore at the dispatcher. He also called 911 operators in Trempealeau and Buffalo counties. Those calls were re-routed to Winona. Officers went back to the laundry, in the 900n block of Frontenac Drive, to made contact yet again with Sjarpe and advised him again that no emergency existed and to stop the 911 calls. Calls kept keeping. Officers went back again and arrested Sjarpe.
Sjarpe: Charged with improper use of 911.