So what's it take to get arrested around here?
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:30 am
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Hom ... geId=1.1.1
Police: Dispatcher Blew Off Surrendering Murder Suspect
By Emily Lopez
FOX 4 News
A murder suspect called 911 to give himself up, but the dispatcher who took the call told him she couldn't help because he needed to find his own ride to jail.
The operator who spoke to wanted murder suspect Cristobal Jaimes is still employed by the City of Dallas and as of Tuesday had not been disciplined for her actions.
Police say on June 22, Jaimes shot and killed Manuel Martinez when Jaimes drove by his former girlfriend's house on Michigan Avenue and saw her with Martinez, then returned with a gun.
"He's a young man who made a mistake," said DPD Lt. Craig Miller. "He took the life of an innocent person, and he'll have to pay the consequences for the crime he committed."
Three days later, Jaimes called 911 from a pay phone to turn himself in, or at least he tried to. FOX 4 obtained a copy of that phone call.
"To turn yourself in, you gotta go to the Lew Sterrett jail," the operator is heard saying.
"How am I gonna do that?" Jaimes responds.
"You'll have to take a car, bus or whatever, but they won't come pick you up. You just gotta turn yourself in," the operator replies. That dispatcher never asked Jaimes why he was wanted.
A short time later, he called back and got a different operator who took the 18-year-old seriously and asked all the right questions.
"What kind of warrant is it? Is it a felony warrant?" the second operator asks.
"It's for shooting somebody," the suspect replies, then offers his name. The second operator verifies his location and immediately sends a squad car to pick him up.
A spokesperson with Dallas Fire-Rescue did not want to talk on camera, but did tell FOX 4 that there is an investigation underway on this matter.
