Police give Thanksgiving turkeys instead of traffic tickets

Police in Billings, Montana, surprised a lot of people this week by pulling them over for traffic violations, then giving them turkeys instead of tickets.

According to Yahoo News, this is the first year the Billings police department has given Thanksgiving turkeys to people for traffic violations. They also issued warnings for the infractions, instead of tickets.

An anonymous local businessman reportedly donated 20 turkeys to the police department for police to hand out. The turkeys only went to people who were pulled over for very minor infractions, though. A person might receive a turkey after being pulled over for driving with a broken tail light, driving a few miles over the speed limit, or rolling through a stop sign, police said.

“The individuals that received the warnings and the turkeys have been very happy,” Lieutenant Neil Lawrence said. “Our Facebook page has received a lot of positive comments regarding it. So far it’s been a very positive thing for the community.”

Recipients of the turkeys will no longer have to figure out their main course for Thanksgiving dinner, but they’ll still have to take care of their own cooking and side dishes. They should start their search with this list of the 12 most popular Thanksgiving side dishes, ranked.