Detroit "cop" avoids charges in knife incident.

[DeltaElite]

TBO,
I don't get alot of stuff.
Just ask my wife.

 

[Matthew Courtney]

"Without lawful authority" says it all.

My source for the lack of authorization for a plainclothes officer to make a traffic stop was a media source and has not been verified by me. I do know that in my state such stops are illegal. If I am wrong about MI, then I apologize and if he showed her his ID and she resisted, it is her own fault.

When an LEO breaks the law in the course of a traffic stop or other interaction with a suspect or citizen, they cease to have the lawful authority of a sworn peace officer.

Whenever an undercover officer ID's himself as an LEO, he should have his ID in his hand, or otherwise plainly visable. If a suspect or citizen is not reasonably convinced that an ununiformed person is an LEO, what they are doing is not resisting, It is self -defense. The "I yelled out that I was the police" arguement is bogus. Anyone can yell that out. That is why departments have regs regarding what undercover cops can and cannot do, and regs which detail how what can be done is to be done.

The woman reqested to see an ID at the beginning of the interaction, before any physical contact took place. As she was never arrested, it seems she wasn't resisting or she would have been. And if he wasn't arresting her, what, besides kidnapping, might he have been doing to her?

 

[DeltaElite]

I agree, a plainclothes cop should have plenty of ID available. Much more so than a uniformed cop.
I must have missed the news account saying that plainclothes cops can't make stops in Michigan.
I guess the DA doesn't see the "without lawful authority" part or there are other laws or case law that clarifies that part in regards to kidnapping.
The whole thing is a mess, no doubt about it.

I apologize for busting on you, Matthew. That was not my intent.

I just don't believe the media account of anything.
I don't believe the account of the drunk who sees millions in her future or the cops who's careers hang in the balance, not to mention possible civil and criminal charges.

We will never know the truth, but we do know that even without criminal charges being filed, the cops in that situation are screwed and that will serve to keep others from acting in such a manner in the future. I hope.

 

[Matthew Courtney]

I usually don't put a lot of stock in the media either. In this case, much of what I gave credibility to came directly from police reports or was quotes from LEO's involved.

Hopefully, this incident will give rise to training aimed at preventing such miscommunications in the future.

The case law is well settled at the federal level that once an LEO violates federal law, state law, or departmental policy he is no longer acting with the authority of a peace officer.

 

[Tim Burke]

Kidnapping?

DeltaElite writes:

Even if not allowed to make a stop, it was in no way a kidnapping.

The statute you cited reads:

Confining person against will, etc.—Any person who wilfully, maliciously and without lawful authority shall forcibly or secretly confine or imprison any other person within this state against his will...shall be guilty of a felony

Now, clearly this was willful. You have conceded above that, for the purpose of argument, it was without lawful authority. He admits that he was trying to forcibly confine her. Your answer to the claim that it was an attempted kidnapping is that it doesn't meet the statute for kidnapping. Is that because you don't think it was malicious? Or because he was unsuccessful?
If someone pulls a knife, and cuts someone else's finger off, I think I'd let the jury decide whether or not it was malicious, rather than take the knife wielder's word.

 

[Spark]

This guy severed a woman's finger with a Delica / Endura? He was willfully negligent to say the least - criminally so.


Kevin