A man spoke to 911 screaming about bears attacking him. Officials said he was drunk and just wanted help getting out of the woods.

• Deputies in West Virginia were dispatched after a call from a man who said he was attacked by a bear.
• The man was shouting "please help me" and said he was going to die, a complaint said.

The 911 call seemed dire: A man in West Virginia said he had been attacked by a bear and that others were now circling him. The man, later identified as a 46-year-old from Ohio, said he thought he was going to die.

But after two hours of searching by police, search and rescue, and the fire department, he was found — unharmed, inebriated, and just desperate to get out of the woods.

It all started on September 22, when dispatchers talked to a man who said he was injured and stranded in the woods, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Kanawha County Magistrate Court and obtained by Insider. The man was screaming "Please help me!" while on the phone with dispatchers, and said he was currently being attacked by a bear, according to the complaint.

The man, according to the complaint, told dispatchers he had been walking for days, that his phone was dying, and that bears were circling him and he was going to die.

Several deputy units as well as search and rescue, fire, and medical personnel were dispatched to try and locate the man. Deputies also tried to enlist West Virginia state police to send out a helicopter to search for the man during the alleged bear attack.

At various points while talking to dispatchers, the man was still screaming, said he had a head injury and was bleeding, and said that the bears were stalking him, according to the complaint. He also mentioned he had been drinking.

The units searching for the man used emergency lights and sirens in the hope they would scare off the bear and help the man find them.

After two hours of searching, from around 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., they found him.

What police found

The man proceeded to deny any medical treatment and said he "just wanted a ride out of the woods," the complaint said.

"The male was not bleeding and did not appear to have any injuries visible," the complaint said, adding the man said he was "extremely intoxicated" and "sorry" for wasting their time "but had to get out of the woods."

Christian R. Leonhardt of Brecksville, Ohio, was charged with one count of falsely reporting an emergency incident. Leonhardt did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Depending on the jurisdiction, there can be hefty fines or even jail time for making a false emergency report or calling in a rescue under false circumstances.

In West Virginia, a person found guilty of falsely reporting an emergency incident can be fined up to $500 or confined in the county jail for up to six months.

In Alaska, in 2021 a man who attempted to climb Denali, North America's tallest peak, was charged after officials said he falsely claimed his companions were experiencing hypothermia in order to get a helicopter rescue off the mountain. The false report charge was eventually dropped, but he pleaded guilty to violating a lawful order of a government employee and was fined $10,000.

More states and localities are also establishing fines for people who call in search and rescue operations while in the outdoors even if they do not lie, but it's determined they acted recklessly.