A 41-year-old Colorado Springs man is accused of trying to overwhelm the city's 911 system by calling it more than 280 times over the course of a day, a spree that ended with officers setting up a containment around his home and negotiating for his surrender. David Ancell was arrested Sunday and booked on a $10,000 bond, according to police.
The saga began when Colorado Springs police responded to an unspecified call for service in the 1500 block of Shane Circle, arriving at about 7:50 a.m. Sunday, near Centennial Boulevard and Garden of the Gods Road. According to the Denver Gazette, officers on the scene learned of a separate burglary in which a suspect broke into his brother's room and stole a camera; police made no arrests in connection with that burglary. As officers worked the scene, Ancell refused to exit his residence, police said.
Officers then set up a containment while trying to convince Ancell to surrender peacefully, and an arrest team eventually entered his home and took him into custody. Colorado Springs police say the arrest stemmed from Ancell's suspected attempt to cause the emergency communications system to crash by calling it nearly 300 times, according to the department's blotter. Separately, KRDO reported that Officer Womack and Officer Pavlica were among those who responded to the Shane Circle address after Ancell allegedly placed more than 280 calls to 911 in what he described as an attempt to “break 911.”
A New State Law Built for Cases Like This
Colorado lawmakers anticipated exactly this kind of call-flooding scenario. In April 2025, Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 25-060, creating a specific criminal offense for repeatedly contacting 911 centers without justifiable cause after receiving a warning, according to the Office of Colorado State Senator Marc Catlin. The law was designed to balance criminal enforcement with mental health considerations, requiring verbal or written warnings and behavioral health evaluation protocols before formal charges can proceed.
The legislation followed testimony describing just how extreme call harassment can get statewide. During the 2025 hearings, dispatch officials reported instances of severe abuse, including one individual who placed over 4,000 calls to a single emergency center in a single day, per the same account from Senator Catlin's office. Beyond SB25-060, Colorado already had tools on the books for cases involving phone system disruption: under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-9-306.5, knowingly obstructing, delaying, or interfering with telecommunications services is a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, according to Justia Law. Separately, Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-8-111 requires anyone convicted of false emergency reporting or triggering false emergency alarms to pay court-ordered restitution to reimburse responding police, fire, and emergency medical agencies, according to FindLaw.
Local Dispatch System Already Under Financial Strain
The arrest also lands amid an ongoing local debate over how Colorado Springs' emergency call infrastructure is funded and run. In June 2026, Mayor Yemi Mobolade announced plans for the city to exit the regional El Paso-Teller County 911 Authority and establish its own independent city authority, arguing that Colorado Springs handles 75% of regional 911 calls but receives only 45% of allocated funding, according to a city statement reported by KKTV. That dispute underscores just how much volume the local system already absorbs even without incidents like Sunday's.
The Colorado Springs Police Department's Communications Center relies on 96 certified telecommunicators who handle nearly 1 million emergency and non-emergency calls annually, averaging more than 1,800 incoming calls a day, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department. Regionally, the El Paso-Teller County 911 Authority oversees six Public Safety Answering Points and maintains a fully functional backup communications center designed to handle emergency call spillover or facility disruptions, per the authority's own description of the system. Neighboring El Paso County's Regional Communications Center processed nearly 285,000 calls for service in 2025 and answered roughly 90% of incoming 911 calls within 15 seconds, achieving an average response time of 7.29 seconds, according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. That office also completed a $2.25 million joint expansion of its communications hub in October 2025, adding 20 dispatch consoles to keep pace with regional growth.
