(Newswire.net — May 8, 2015) — Chelsea, Michigan – Driving the under influence is a felony regardless of how influential a person you are. In a small community like Chelsea, Michigan, it is natural that local businessmen support local authorities. Maybe it is natural for businessmen to expect that authorities would ‘cut them some slack’, but in the eyes of the law we all should be equal.
That is precisely what the police officer thought when arresting Mr. Brian Haggard, a well-connected local businessman for DUI, Tulsa Channel 8 reported.
“It’s very common for someone to say ‘Please man don’t do this to me,'” said Mr. Hogan. However, a police officer’s dash-cam captured an entirely different scene.
Video showed a white Jeep being pulled over by Officer Nicholas Pappe who noticed the driver, Mr. Hagard, was showing signs of driving while intoxicated. When Pappe tried to arrest the businessman, his phone started ringing.
“I was shocked when I received a phone call from the police commissioner. I thought he knew better than that. But for him to call me and ask me if I would allow him to leave his home to the traffic stop and pick that individual up and take him home in lieu of even a citation much less an arrest, I find that highly unethical,” said Hogan.
Moreover, it didn’t end there. According to the assistant police Chief Travis Hogan, a city manager arrived at the scene, asking the officer to release Mr. Haggard. The police officer Pappe then arrested Mr. Haggard for driving under the influence. Arresting an important person for breaking a law created two months of unrest for the Chelsea police department.
“My officers have received threats. Myself and the chief have received threats to our jobs,” said assistant police Chief Travis Hogan.
“It’s not that he [city manager] showed up and tried to prevent my officer from doing anything, but it was just his mere presence,” Hogan told Channel 8, adding that it is so rare for a city manager to behave like this.
“This, I believe in my four and a half years this is the one and only time the city manager has come to a traffic stop,” said Hogan.
Mr. Haggard denied any kind of threats and said that the “cops are ruining the reputation of the city.”
The police commissioner at the time of the incident declined an interview and efforts to contact the city manager were unsuccessful, Channel 8 reported.