Cid speaking to police.
By Kevin Deutsch
A North Lauderdale man was arrested Thursday for making a false 911 call about a fictitious crime as part of a planned “social experiment” prank—leading to four Coral Springs Police officers responding to a concocted crime scene and delaying the department’s response to seven real emergency calls, authorities said.
Jason Cid, 21, had an accomplice call police on Jan. 27 around 4:30 p.m. to make a fictitious police complaint for a video prank he later posted on his YouTube page titled, “Coke Prank On Aggressive Cops!”
Cid and the unidentified man allegedly told dispatchers they were witnessing suspicious activity at the Mobil gas station at 1351 N. University Dr. involving an orange Mercedes-Benz and its occupants.
The pranksters themselves were inside the Mercedes-Benz, belonging to Cid, which was wired for sound and video to capture the police officers’ response and reaction, according to court records filed by police.
“Cid conducts ‘social experiments’ to see how citizens react to scenarios orchestrated by him and his friends, including how officers respond to emergency calls,” police wrote in an arrest affidavit, adding that Cid makes a living earning money from his videos. “The calls turn out to be fake scenarios organized by Cid and his associates.”
In this case, the prank centered on wordplay: Instead of finding coke in the luxury car’s trunk, police found Coca-Cola, the affidavit states.
“What Cid and his accomplices were met with were polite, courteous officers lawfully investigating a fictitious call” for 45 minutes, the City of Coral Springs said in a press release announcing Cid’s arrest.
“This fictitious call and ones like them are a danger to the public and our officers. In Coral Springs, we will hold persons accountable for misuse of crucial police resources. The incident remains under investigation, and there is the potential for additional arrests.”
The January prank was not the first “social experiment” Cid conducted in Coral Springs, according to police.
On Oct. 26, 2019, police received several 911 calls about a bloody fight at Coral Square Mall on West Atlantic Boulevard. First-responders arrived thinking they might be working a mass casualty event.
Instead, they found Cid covered in fake blood, telling them he was “YouTube famous, it was only a prank, and he had over one million followers,” according to the affidavit.
“Mall patrons on scene expressed their disgust with Cid and stated how it traumatized them and their children.”
As a result of the 2019 incident, Cid was charged with disorderly conduct and exposing another person to injury through culpable negligence, court records show.
After the January incident outside the Mobil station, Cid allegedly posted pictures from the prank scene on Instagram, writing that he had “pranked the same cops that arrested me two years ago.”
Coral Springs Police Chief Clyde Parry said in a video released Friday that Cid’s crime was “a dangerous prank that could have led to deadly consequences.”
“This prank by Jason Cid and his accomplices is no laughing matter,” Parry said. “It’s not a source for his entertainment. It’s a crime.”
Bond information was not immediately available for Cid, who was released from the Broward Main Jail.
Charges have not been announced against Cid’s alleged accomplices.
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