You have to hand it to him: As far as dumb criminals go, Salvador Sanchez-Buenrostro is pretty clever. After getting pulled over for a traffic violation the other night outside of Portland, OR, the 42-year-old pulled a move straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon: While sitting in his car and waiting for the officer who had stopped him to finish writing him his ticket, Sanchez-Buenrostro discreetly picked up his phone, called 911, and told the dispatcher that there had just been a shooting. Crucially, the address he provided was about 10 miles away from where he was parked—just close enough that it was possible the cop who had detained him would be sent over to investigate.
But the inspired maneuver—which was reported by the Portland Tribune—fell short when the location of Sanchez-Buenrostro’s call was tracked to the very spot where Officer Chad Stevens had recently stopped his cruiser. After being alerted to the shooting report by a dispatcher, Stevens was given the number it had come from, which he quickly matched to Sanchez-Buenrostro’s cell phone.
The stunt—which, again, would have been quite elegant if only it had worked—landed Sanchez-Buenrostro in the Multnomah County Detention Center, where he later admitted to placing the fake 911 call. He has since been released.
