CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Eds: Story includes vulgarity and use of explicit language.
A young man said he felt frustrated after receiving a disparaging voicemail from the Corpus Christi Police Department when he attempted to make a report.
The officer thought they hung up the phone, but unbeknownst to them, Coastal Bend resident Ezra Alaniz was still on the receiving end of the call.
Alaniz said he wanted to speak about the call he got in order to keep it from happening to anyone else.
Alaniz initially called authorities to report a scary encounter he had with a stranger as he was getting in his car for work last Wednesday.
"I saw her just charging over here as I was unlocking it," Alaniz said.
Fear was the only emotion Alaniz could think of when he said the woman started to beat on his car and try to get inside.
"Terrified, I just knew I had to get out of there as fast as I could," Alaniz said.
After the encounter took place Alaniz called the CCPD non emergency number to report the woman. He ended up leaving a message for an officer to call him back.
"I waited, fell asleep," Alaniz said.
As time continued to pass Alaniz realized he had received a voicemail from the non emergency number. However, the response Alaniz received from the officer was an unexpected one.
The message started out normal enough with the officer asking Alaniz to call the non emergency number back if he still needed to make a report.
But then things took a different tone when the officer thought she had hung up.
As the voicemail continued to play, Alaniz could faintly hear the officer took a less professional approach when speaking to another staff member about him and his situation. At one point saying the person who hit his car should have, "knocked" Alaniz out.
Alaniz played the audio for 3 News.
"How old are you that you still have that (expletive) on your phone? Like Hello, what's up? And then says you got played son. (expletive) dumb right? The person hitting your car should knock you out. Another voice laughs. It's too early for that (expletive) Jesus. You're an idiot, don't bother calling us back," said the unidentified officer.
After hearing the voicemail Alaniz contacted his mother to show her the less than polite message authorities left in his voicemail.
"I was super angered from it, Alaniz said. "I called my mom and said you have to listen to this voicemail the police department just left me."
Alaniz believes the officer was reacting to his own voicemail greeting where he pretended to answer.
"I guess my voicemail just angered them that much to where they had to treat me like that," Alaniz said "Talk ugly about me."
Alaniz said that his greeting was meant for the numerous scam calls he receives, but despite the greeting, Alaniz said it does not justify the officers actions.
"I don't talk to customers behind their back at work, no reason to do that to people you are serving," Alaniz said.
According to CCPD Lt. Michael Pena the officer has been identified, and Pena reached out to Alaniz personally to issue an apology.
"I reached out to Ezra to apologize for the message that was on his voicemail, Pena said. "It's not indicative of the Corpus Christi Police Department, we want to make sure he understood that."
Pena also wants to make sure what happened to Alaniz doesn't happen to any other Coastal Bend resident. Even if that means making changes to the department's policies and procedures.
"I got ahold of the supervisor and they were going to address that issue, Pena said. "We don't want that to happen again. The police department are a customer based organization. Customer service, we want to make sure everyone has the best customer service."
Alaniz told 3News that it was his first time having to reach out to police for a situation.
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