"Officer Pulled Gun On Me" Woman Claims
A Charlevoix County women claims a Sunday morning drive took a dramatic turn when she found herself looking down the barrel of a police officer's gun. The driver Elena says she was driving down Antrim Street in Charlevoix Sunday morning around 9 am after visiting a friend who had just given birth at the hospital. That's when she she noticed a Charlevoix City Police officer turn around to follow her and turn on his lights.
She says that's when the entire situation got a little confusing. Elena says "I noticed he was still parked in the middle of the road so I sat there a minute looked in my mirror and thought well he is still sitting there with his hands on his steering wheel, and thought ok maybe he wants me to pull up a little bit." She claims the street had cars parked on either side, and unplowed driveways, so there was no place for her to pull in. She says she drove about a quarter of a block at less than 10 miles per hour in order to find a safer place to pull over so that the police officer could get out the road.
Elena says "he got out of his car pulled up behind me and with a gun pointed at me told me put my hands up, screaming and yelling so I put my hands up slowly." She says the officer told her he was pulling her over for speeding, 10 miles per hour above the limit. She says he also wrote her up for fleeing and eluding but later removed that from the citation. Elena couldn't say why she thinks the officer pulled his weapon on her, she says she posed no risk.
Now make no mistake police officers put their lives on the line everyday, approaching cars can be tense, and potentially dangerous, there are times when officers have to make split second decisions and draw their gun.
Elena assures me she did nothing to justify the officers reaction but since there are two sides to every story, I contacted the Charlevoix City Police to see if they were aware of what took place Sunday. They said they were. So I wanted to know what if anything Elena did wrong? What are their policies regarding reviewing incidents like this? The city police told me at this time, they could not comment on the situation.
Another unanswered question for a women who still can't believe what happened to her. Elena says "I just feel us as citizens what are we supposed to do in a situation like that?"
Turns out Elena's question is a good one? How quickly do you have to pull over when those sirens light up behind you? The truth is, there is no hard and fast answer. I called the State Police and city police officers and asked them what they expect from a motorist they are pulling over. They told me a motorist is allowed to move slowly, a reasonable distance to what the motorist considers a safe, and if at night, a well light location. So what is considered reasonable? What is considered slowly? That's the grey area that leaves a lot of interpretation to both drivers and officers.
