QUESTION
Is it legal if my niece was arrested and car was towed after she passed the field sobriety test and no citations were given?
Asked on Nov 21st, 2014 on DUI/DWI - Michigan
More details to this question:
My niece was sitting in her car in a parking lot trying to get her window rolled to the position she wanted it in. A passer-by called police and said they thought she was drunk. The police showed up, pulled her out conducted a field sobriety test. She passed it but they still hauled her off. They impounded the car and later released her to her Mom with no paperwork. They did not inform her of charges. They had taken her driver's license away from her. Later in the week, the police came to her house and gave back her drivers license and left. She went to the police station to get a police report and they refused to provide her with one. No she can't get the car out of impound because I am the owner of it and I am out of state. She told me that they didn't read her her rights while being arrested. They won't even tell her if she was given any kind of citations during the stop. What can I/we do about this? I believe it was an illegal search and seizure for lack of a better term. Thank you.
1 ANSWER
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She, and perhaps you, are going to have to engage an attorney to look into the details, get the car back and determine if she is being charged with anything (appears not). Do it quickly as you will have to pay the storage fees to the pound up front and they are by the day. While you MIGHT be able to recover them (if they are worth the cost of the fight) you will not get the car back until they are paid and each day the problem is compounded. If you "abandon" the car by not coming for it then it will be sold for the storage fees and you will be out the car, and probably the money.
Answered on Nov 25th, 2014 at 1:34 PM