Chief Defends Decision To Release Officer’s Mother in DUI Case

During a 2016 traffic stop conducted by Chief Timothy Collins and other officers, Ferndale Police declined to arrest the driver, despite a breathalyzer showing twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system. According the Channel 4/Click on Detroit, who obtained police video of the stop after Ferndale police initially denied the existence of any video, the woman was released to her son, a Detroit police officer.

After Collins stopped her for running a stop sign, the woman told him and other officers her son was a police officer with Detroit’s 9th precinct. They conducted field sobriety tests and a breathalyzer, then Collins had the driver wait in his car. “The least we can do is get you a ride and have you picked up,” Collins tells the woman. After allowing her to wait in his cruiser - which he turns on so she won’t be chilly - Collins eventually tells her "I hope you realize the break you are getting. This is a $10,000 break. I’m giving you a $10,000 gift."

This isn’t the first time in recent months Ferndale Police have been accused of giving preferential treatment to officers or their families. In November, Roseville Police Officer David Raymer was picked up by Ferndale Police driving the wrong way on Woodward Avenue after leaving a bar. Ferndale Police didn’t do any field sobriety testing, but drove him home instead. A Ferndale police lieutenant was suspended for a day without pay, and Raymer faces a single misdemeanor charge of reckless driving and will keep his job, according to Roseville’s chief of police.

Collins denies the driver received special treatment, and said police have discretion to charge or not charge drunk driving. He said the woman was returning home from a funeral. “I felt this was one time where I could give someone a break, turn her over to a responsible person and then impound her car," Collins told Channel 4.

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