Honking Mad: Driver Vents His Anger at 3 in the Morning

Fanwood police arrested a Plainfield man early Wednesday morning, during a motor vehicle stop that woke neighbors and disrupted the pre-dawn quiet.

At 2:53 a.m., an officer stopped Brian Callan, 31, at the corner of South Avenue and Terrill Road for a motor vehicle violation, Fanwood detective Eugene Chin said in a phone interview.

Upon checking the driver's credentials, Chin said, the officer discovered that Callan was driving with a suspended license. The officer told Callan that he would be issued a summons, and that his car would be towed. That's when Callan started yelling out the window.

"He was saying that there was no summons, that his license was not suspended," Chin said.

The officer returned to his car to continue writing the summons. But Callan soon started honking his car's horn.

The officer quickly returned to the side of Callan's vehicle, Chin said, and convinced him to stop honking. He then issued Callan the summons and called a tow truck. As the two waited, Callan quietly called 911 – the officer, Chin said, was out of earshot.

Callan told the 911 dispatcher that he had an emergency, Chin said, and that he needed a supervisor. The officer at the scene, however, was already a supervisor. The dispatcher informed the officer of the call, who then placed Callan under arrest for making a false 911 call.

Callan was brought to headquarters, where he was processed and released on $1,000 bail pending a court date.