SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Police in Amsterdam responded quickly this week when they received an emergency call from a man who said it sounded as if his neighbor was being beaten to death. The neighbor said he heard a terrifying scream from the house the police explained on Facebook. They dispatched officers to the scene of those screams. The police heard them, too. They knocked on the door, but there was no answer. So Amsterdam police began to kick in the door. A life could hang in the balance.
Then a man came to the door. He was wearing headphones. It turns out the man in headphones had simply been listening to an opera and singing along to the tune - tunelessly, apparently. Amsterdam police say their officers, the neighbor who was the tipster and the screeching opera singer all had a good laugh about the incident. It won't make much of a "Law & Order" episode. The police did not release the name of the man or the opera.
(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "LA FILLE DU REGIMENT")
LUCIANO PAVAROTTI: (Singing in French).
SIMON: This is Pavarotti. That man wasn't.
(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "LA FILLE DU REGIMENT")
PAVAROTTI: (Singing in French). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.