Two 911 hang-up calls from a cell phone touched off a tense text exchange with Marshall County dispatchers Saturday after dispatchers' return call went unanswered, ending with a 26-year-old Plymouth man arrested at a downtown park pavilion. During that exchange, Travis Lee Doty said he was going to hang himself, then told dispatchers he would stab police if they came looking for him.
The calls came into the Marshall County 911 Center from a cell phone, and when dispatchers tried calling back and got no answer, they turned to text messaging to ask whether there was an emergency, according to giant.fm. The FCC says all Indiana PSAPs receive texts; its document also includes 2014 deployment information.
Doty told dispatchers to get a life. He responded to the texts by saying he was at the park drinking, then claimed he did not believe dispatch was actually contacting him. When dispatchers told him his cell phone had, in fact, called 911, he said the call was a joke and told officers to come to the park because of an altercation, saying he would be under the pavilion. In the middle of that back-and-forth, he had also said he planned to hang himself and warned that he would stab any police who showed up.
Officers Find Doty Under the Pavilion
Officers arrived at River Park and located Doty as described, under the shelter pavilion. River Park Square includes a public rental shelter and the Senter Stage amphitheater; permanent cornhole boards are at the VFW shelter, according to the City of Plymouth. The park connects to the rest of downtown via the East LaPorte Street Footbridge, an 1898 truss bridge listed on the National Register of Historic Places that was restored in 2023, per Wikipedia.
Police detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage on Doty and found a THC vape pen in his possession. He submitted to a portable breath test that showed a blood alcohol content of .084%.
Misdemeanor Charges, Not Felony Counts
Doty was transported to the Marshall County Jail and booked on charges of public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor under Indiana law, and possession of marijuana. Public intoxication carries up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, but requires proof the person endangered a person's life, breached the peace or was in imminent danger of breaching it, or harassed, annoyed, or alarmed another person, rather than punishing mere public intoxication on its own, according to the McNeelyLaw LLP explainer on the statute.
Doty also faced a marijuana possession charge.
Despite the threats to stab officers and his statement that the 911 call was a joke, Doty was booked on public intoxication and possession of marijuana charges.
What Happens Next
As with any arrest, the charging information against Doty is only an allegation, and he is presumed innocent throughout the proceedings. First-time offenders facing misdemeanor alcohol or drug charges in Indiana may qualify for court-supervised pretrial diversion programs that can lead to dismissal upon completion, according to Eskew Law, though it remains unclear whether that path, or any mental health evaluation tied to the suicidal statements he made to dispatchers, will factor into how his case moves through Marshall County court.
