Michigan - What to do (and not to do) if the Police or a Detective calls you
It's time to take another break from my long, on-going series of articles about Driver's License Restoration in Michigan. In this article, we'll discuss an issue that arises often enough in my Practice as a Criminal Defense Lawyer. It always begins with a phone call from a person who has been contacted by a Detective from a Police Department or Agency. The caller has either spoken with the Detective, or simply knows, from a message of some sort, that a Detective has called for them. The Detective will almost always reference what he or she is calling about.
In this article, we'll talk about those calls which are about some incident involving the person who is being called. Sometimes it's about an Assault and Battery case, or an allegation of Domestic Violence. Other times, it's about some kind of Larceny or allegation of Embezzlement or other Theft Crime. Even if the call involves a different kind of Offense, there are certain similar characteristics of these calls that can help us understand how to respond to them.
When my office gets one of these calls, there is usually a sense of urgency, if not outright panic, on the part of the caller. Having handled so many of these calls over the years, I think it's safe to say, at least from my experience, that there really is a set of rules a person must follow if they are called by a Detective.
Let's look at a real life example of a case I recently handled in Macomb County. My Client was involved in a disagreement with the driver of a car who was parked in front of his house and blocking his driveway. To make a long story short, there was a bit of an altercation between my client and the Driver of the car who refused to move and unblock my Client's driveway, which prevented my client from pulling his car out.
When all was said and done, and my Client was on his way to wherever, and the other Driver had finally gone his own way, my Client figured the whole thing was over. A few days later, he received a call from a Detective. He spoke with the Detective for a bit before he called me. As he related the initial conversation with the Detective, he was asked about the altercation and the Detective told him that he wanted to hear my Client's side of the story. Fortunately, my Client immediately understood the need to obtain legal advice before he said anything, so he called me. Before ending his conversation with the Detective, however, the Detective said something to my Client which I will point out to the reader as very important: The Detective told my Client that if he didn't receive a return phone call within a few days, he was "going to get a warrant" charging my Client with Assault and Battery. Mark that, because we'll come back to it.
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