The clams this diner ordered were ‘so small’ that he called 911 — twice, police say

The clams a customer ordered at a Florida seafood restaurant Monday were “so small” that he called 911 to ask a police officer to come remedy the situation.

But the clams weren’t so small that Nelson Agosto, 51, wouldn’t eat the meal he had ordered at Crabby’s Seafood Shack in Stuart, Fla. Stuart police said he consumed the clams, though perhaps not all, and then refused to pay for them, calling police to help settle the dispute.

“This is 911, for emergencies,” the dispatcher told Agosto after giving him the non-emergency line, a recording of the 911 call shows. “Hang up and call that number and they will help you.”

On the call, Agosto — a Port Saint Lucie, Fla. resident — described the meal of steamed clams as “extremely” small.

Then he hung up, as the dispatcher told him to.

That wasn’t his last 911 call of the day, though. Just minutes later, Agosto was on the phone with 911 again, according to the Stuart Police Department.

This time, Agosto told the dispatcher that the non-emergency line wasn’t working, the recording of the second call shows. The dispatcher told Agosto it was working just fine, and then told him to hang up for a second time.

Finally, though, Agosto got his wish: An officer went to investigate Agosto’s “so small” complaint, according to police.

But Agosto didn’t get the resolution he had likely imagined. The officer handed Agosto a summons to appear in court, charging that he misused 911.

This story was originally published December 22, 2017 at 2:21 PM with the headline "The clams this diner ordered were ‘so small’ that he called 911 — twice, police say."