COP TO COP

By SyndicatedNews | SNN.BZ

In a November 13, 2016 incident, a Michigan sheriff’s lieutenant apparently hoped professional courtesy might get him out of a drunken-driving stop. Instead, the encounter became a remarkable piece of police body-camera footage showing one law-enforcement officer refusing to give another a pass — and eventually arresting him.

The driver was Brian Stephen Filipiak, then a lieutenant with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. On November 13, 2016, authorities in Montmorency County received multiple reports of a pickup truck being driven erratically. Deputy Zach Morrison located the vehicle and reported seeing it travel onto the shoulder and struggle to remain within its lane. Filipiak, who was off duty, was behind the wheel.

What followed was anything but an ordinary traffic stop. According to the police report and video, Filipiak displayed his sheriff’s badge and identification and repeatedly attempted to persuade Morrison to resolve the situation “cop to cop.” Morrison wasn’t buying it. The deputy told Filipiak that he knew Filipiak was intoxicated and reminded him that police had received multiple reports concerning the vehicle.

Filipiak repeatedly resisted instructions to leave his pickup. At one point, he suggested that officers simply allow him to sleep off the alcohol rather than arrest him. Published footage captured him pleading, “Just let me go,” and even proposing that he could sleep in the bushes. Morrison continued ordering him out of the truck.

The confrontation escalated when Filipiak still would not comply. Morrison reported that he and a Michigan Department of Natural Resources officer attempted to physically remove Filipiak before Morrison drew his Taser and warned that it would be used if Filipiak refused to exit. Filipiak then got out. Morrison reported seeing him stagger as he walked toward the patrol vehicle. Filipiak subsequently refused standardized field-sobriety testing.

The numbers obtained afterward made the encounter considerably more serious. Breath tests administered after Filipiak’s arrest registered 0.27 and 0.28 percent blood-alcohol concentrations — more than three times Michigan’s 0.08 legal driving limit and substantially above the 0.17 threshold associated with Michigan’s enhanced “super drunk” penalties.

Filipiak was initially charged with operating while intoxicated with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.17 or greater. The case did not disappear after the cameras stopped rolling. Court proceedings continued into 2017, and Filipiak ultimately pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of operating while intoxicated.

On March 3, 2017, District Court Judge Benjamin Bolser sentenced Filipiak to one year of probation and 40 hours of community service. He also received a 93-day deferred jail sentence, meaning the jail time would be imposed if he violated probation, and he was ordered to pay $1,266 in fines and costs. His probation included alcohol restrictions and testing.

The arrest also carried professional consequences. Following an internal investigation, Filipiak lost his lieutenant’s title and status as a sworn law-enforcement officer. He nevertheless remained employed by the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office in a support capacity at reduced pay. Sheriff Jerry Clayton publicly described Filipiak’s conduct as unacceptable and said he was angered and disappointed by what had occurred.

Perhaps the most striking part of the recording is therefore not simply a law-enforcement officer being arrested for drunken driving. It is another officer declining to extend the very professional privilege Filipiak appeared to be requesting. Morrison faced a fellow officer, a lieutenant and an uncomfortable decision — and treated the man behind the wheel as a driver subject to the same law as everyone else.

Records and contemporary reporting

This article recounts a November 2016 arrest and March 2017 sentencing; it is not a report of a new arrest. The following contemporary sources document the incident and outcome: