A drunk woman was arrested numerous times over the weekend in upstate New York after she repeatedly called a police department and emergency responders to ‘scream and yell at operators’, tying up vital phone lines for hours, police revealed.
The latest arrest marks the 106th time that Christine Diliberto, of Saugerties, has been taken into custody by police in just the last four years.
Diliberto was first arrested at around 2am on Friday morning in a reported ‘intoxicated condition’ after she allegedly called the Saugerties Police Department repeatedly for hours.
The 41-year-old called with no emergencies, and instead berated emergency dispatchers, screaming and shouting obscenities, police said. She then also started calling the Ulster County 911 center, tying up county emergency dispatchers as well.
Police located Diliberto and charged her with a misdemeanor count of obstruction of governmental administration, police said.
Then on Saturday, between the hours of 12.49am and 2.52am, Diliberto contacted the Saugerties PD emergency number a total of nine times, and Ulster County 911 on four occasions, police said.
Once again, none of the calls were made in the nature of an emergency service request and were purely frivolous. Police characterized the calls as harassment, which prevented dispatchers and officers from responding to real emergencies.
The 41-year-old called with no emergencies, and instead berated emergency dispatchers, screaming and shouting obscenities, police said. She then also started calling the Ulster County 911 center, tying up county emergency dispatchers (Pictured Saugerties Town/Police Station)
Diliberto was temporarily detained and issued another obstruction of governmental administration appearance ticket. On account of her dangerous level of intoxication, she was transported to the Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley Broadway Campus Hospital for medical treatment, police say.
Later Saturday, at 4pm, police responded to a residence on Bridge Street to reports of an intoxicated female repeatedly contacting police emergency telephone lines between 12.56pm to 3.45pm for no legitimate purpose.
Upon arrival, police made contact with Diliberto for the third time in 36 hours. She was again described as being highly intoxicated.
She was processed on another misdemeanor charge of obstruction of governmental administration second degree and then escorted back to the Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley to undergo a mental evaluation and be treated for acute alcohol poisoning.
Saugerties Police Department Chief Joseph Sinagra said in a press release that Diliberto’s case is evidence that ‘our mental health system is broken.’
‘This is why Ulster County needs a Stabilization Center like the one in Dutchess County! There is a major gap in our dismantled mental health care system that is allowing individuals suffering from substance abuse to continually slip through,’ Sinagra said.
Since June 2016, Saugerties police have arrested Diliberto a total of 106 times. The vast majority of those arrests have been made under the New York State Mental Hygiene Law 9.41, the police department said.
‘This underscores the failure of NYS to provide adequate and equitable mental health care for those suffering from mental health issues,’ Sinagra added. ‘I am disheartened over the failure of our 21st century mental health system in caring for individuals such as Christine. It’s time to address the inequities in our mental health system in NYS- Time to re-envision what a caring an adequate mental health care system should look like!’
Since June 2016, Saugerties police have arrested Diliberto a total of 106 times. The vast majority of those arrests have been made under the New York State Mental Hygiene Law 9.41, the police department said
In July 2016, Diliberto called Saugerties PD reporting that she had just killed her boyfriend at home. However, when police arrived at the residence they discovered her partner was very much alive and completely unharmed.
She was taken to the police station and processed on a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report. Police never said what prompted her to make the call.
Over the next few years, Diliberto was arrested more than 100 times. Including one instance of being arrested twice in a seven hour period following confrontations with police officers in which she tried to tackle one officer to the ground, and threatened to shoot another.
Both of the incidents occurred when police responded to her home to investigate numerous harassing phone calls to the Ulster County 911 center and Saugerties Police.
Diliberto, then 39, was described as highly intoxicated. She slammed into the attending female officer and attempted to tackle her. She was taken into custody on second-degree harassment charges.
She was taken to hospital for alcohol poisoning but, within hours, police once again returned to the residence on account of a harassment complaint. Police said Diliberto was highly intoxicated and became abusive, threatening to shoot officers.
She was issued a second charge of second-degree harassment and along with a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment.
Following her latest spate of arrests, Diliberto has been ordered to appear in the Village of Saugerties Justice Court on September 14.
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