Some Criminals Are Their Own Worst Enemy
turn (someone) in: to report someone to the police
Most criminals do everything they can to avoid being caught. A small number do the exact opposite.
In October 2009, a 49-year-old Wisconsin woman named Mary Strey dialed 911 and reported a dangerous driver. “Somebody’s really drunk driving down Granton Road,” she told the dispatcher. When the dispatcher asked, “Are you behind them?” Strey paused and answered, “No. I am them.” By the end of the call, she had turned herself in. Her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, and she was arrested that night.
Three years earlier, in Michigan, a police officer named Edward Sanchez admitted his own crime. He took marijuana that had been seized in an arrest and brought it home. After baking it into brownies, he and his wife ate the entire batch. A few hours later, he dialed 911 in a panic, convinced they were having a drug overdose. “I think we’re dying,” he told the dispatcher. “Time is going by really, really, really slow.” Then he asked her for the score of a hockey game.
They weren’t dying. They were just very, very high. But the call was recorded, and Officer Sanchez had confessed on tape to stealing evidence. He resigned from his job, and prosecutors agreed not to charge him.
Two strange phone calls. One woman talked herself into handcuffs. One officer ate his way out of a job. The police did not catch them. They caught themselves.
Sample sentences
After three weeks on the run, the suspect’s own brother turned him in.
She knew her coworker was stealing from the office, but she could not decide whether to turn him in.
The thief eventually turned himself in after his face appeared on the news.
Read More
Driver calls 911 to report herself as drunk — NBC News
Cop who made pot brownies will avoid charges — NBC News
