Ride home for intoxicated sheriff deputy leads to investigation

How about investigating the police officer that initially pulled him over? If me or any other "non-police" got pulled over for a .19 !!!! we would not be driven home, we would be in jail. As somebody who lives very close to the arrested officer, I thank God that I was not driving at the time that this person was driving home not only the first time, but also the second time!!!! Way to keep us safe local authorities.

if this had ben me or anyother tax payer, we would have ben lectured and driven to JAIL. put on probation for 2 years or more, made to court fines of over $1200. and faced a max of 10 days in the county jail.   both cops should loss there jobs. and lets hope he sentenced FAIRLY.just as me or you would have .

Its so sad seeing the angry town folk seeking blood and vengeance rather than forgiveness, compassion, and understanding which normal small towns pride themselves in.  It really makes me want to live there again.

bGreene, I'm shocked that you do not have an understanding of the seriousness of this incident.  Are you really suggesting that all of the people who have been victims of drunk drivers or people who have lost someone to a drunk driving accident that they need to have compassion and understanding for this cop?  Obviously this man has personal problems that he is trying to deal with, but there are a lot of resources out there for people like him.  Having personal problems and a badge doesn't entitle someone to get away with multiple DUI's.

Really, Blood and Vengeance? This is about being keeping the town safe for those who live in it. If the only repercussion for an "authourity" figure driving extremely drunk in our proud little town is a ride home, what is to stop them? Killing a car load of students riding home? Smashing a mom and her child out for a walk? Killing themselves on an icy road? Laws apply to everyone regardless of position, especially something as unbelievably dangerous as driving with a blood alcohol level of .19. Where is the compassion and understanding for the other 9,000 residents of Tecumseh who could be sharing the road with this driver?

Pitchforks?  This is about two men who have vowed to keep citizens safe...and both who decided to use judgement calls that instead endangered lives. 

  Do you still have family here?  How would you feel if your family was one of the casualites from this man's judgement?

Maybe people are getting tired of the "small town" Good Ole Boy mentality...and are ready for something different.

Is Officer Briggs going to be suspended as well? He certainly should be! This makes me sick! Makes you wonder how many other times the law has been broken and subsequently covered up by the Tecumseh Police. What a joke!

it has nothing to do with a small town, nobody is above the law. just becuase ur a cop dos not mean your in a speacial club were the laws and rules used to protect our comunity  children and me, do not apply. thats how our tax dollars are spent, for gas to get drunken officers home. i work hard for my money and if i gonna spend it getting a drunk dude home i would go to the bar andcall myself a taxi. not give a drunken cop a ride home. its sickening. everyone has personal problems, most of the people that get pulled over for drunk driving probly did so after a fight with a spous, divorce, or loss of a job. does that make them any less guilty of the crime of driving drunk??? personal problems or exactly like they sound personal! and should not efftect the saftey of my family!!!!   both cops should be fired, and the one that let him go should be chared with endangering the public, or whatever they can stick him with because his move affected everyone and put everone in harms way.   and worst of all we paid for it-  the salary the gas everything.

I'm 19.  I went to Tecumseh Public Schools for 10 out of the 12 years I went to school.  In my Jr year a THS I left because I couldn't stand the golden boy and good ol' boy network inside the school and town.  I wasn't a bad kid.  I passed every class I took with a c or better, but I went to parties and drank on occasion(something I haven't done since I started college.)  But kids whos mom and dads didnt own a store or weren't "The Well Knows" got into trouble for being late, skipping class ditching school.  As they should, but I remember one day a guy I had hung out with only 1 or 2 times in my life strolled in to THS late after putting out a cigar in frount of the the VP at THS.  He was only 17 at the time.  No end resault with this, then I heard a rumor a kid had a case of cigars in his truck.  his truck was searched by that same VP, he was suspended pending a hearing.  The rich kids and their parents would brag about driving home drunk from the country club.  Something I wouldn't dream of doing, but for them, they know that the police and schools wouldn't touch them.  This town needs a HUGE check to the gut, this might be it.  Perhaps it won't.  But for a "small town" we have some big city problems.

J
Been there done that and loved it..now only if I could sell my house in this town for more than 30,000.....so I could get the heck out of dodge. Oh, I could let it go into foreclosure like the rest of the town.
This small town has some big time city problems, my first year here after living in a big city (and having NO PROBLEMS), our cars got broken into, neighbor got arrested for having an aresenal in his garage, sex and drug parties with the track coach and there was a double murder suicide love triangle a few miles away. If this is small town living, then please move me back to the city.

     I have been living in this area for over 20 years and if this DUI incident gets swept under the rug we should all go to the election polls next election and vote all these incumbents out of office. Show these arrogant lawmakers what the Tea Partys all about. We all should contact the Mi State Attorney Generals office to avoid a cover-up.

    First of all, how dare this deputy put his daughter (and others) in harms way for his impaired decision making.  He is supposed to serve and protect, but it seems to me that he was only serving himself and protecting no one!  I'm angry because I live very near where this "accident" happened.  I myself have an 18 yr. old son that was on his way home from a friend's house just about the time that this happened.  It makes my blood boil to think that this man could have harmed my child because he couldn't wait until the morning to retrieve his Jeep. Shame on the TPO that could have prevented this "accident".  If Deputy McCrate had caused someone to die, then would the TPO be charged with accessory to murder?

This just goes to show the incompetence and curruptness of some of our local law enforcement. Both McCrate and Briggs should be investigated, and prosecuted to the fullest, and as law enforcement officers, if anything should be held to a higher standard. This sort of incidence undermines public safety, displays the hypocricy of authority, and all around disgusts me as a Tecumseh resident and tax payer.

Whether he was driving with a .09 or a .19, he DESERVES to be in jail, with the officer that gave him a ride home FIRED. Of course, I don't expect much out of the Tecumseh Police Department as is, but seriously?! .19 BAC?!? This guy was SMASHED!! He "messed up" ?! This man was completely careless! And his daughter driving him to get the jeep, despite "objections" ? She should have her license revoked, driving someone so plastered to drive there car home! He couldn't have possibly MADE her give him a ride. She could've said "No." and left it at that. Both officers deserve everything coming to them.

I went to school here, and am more than happy that I don't live here anymore. If you don't have a name, or aren't well off then forget it. 

It's really sad to see most of you demanding, Briggs be fired. He is a good police officer. Put yourselves in his shoes, what would you have done? Sometimes people try and do the right thing and it goes wrong. No one is perfect, so before you start pointing fingers, maybe you should look in your own backyard.

I'm not saying the Sheriff should have drove drunk. Unfortunately sometimes personal problems do cloud your judgement. 

You try being a police officer for even one day, I'm quite sure none of you would last, and NONE of you would be perfect. 

I just went online specifically to see what has happened with the case and there's no more news or updates? What gives? What happened to the officer that drove the drunk home? Swept under the carpet--again!

Police Chief Mack Haun said the department received an outside investigator's report of the incident during the last week of March. That report is currently being reviewed by the Tecumseh Police Department, according to Haun. No decision in regards to officer Darrin Briggs has been announced.

What can we expect from the ordinary people when people like McCrate that are supposed to set an example lose control of their actions. Driving drunk? He should have known better than that. Suspension without pay is hardly a punishment, he could have killed himself of someone else on the road. Is he even willing to get treatment? I am sure there are plenty residential drug treatment centers he can afford. You didn't mention anything about what's next for him.

This is the "OL Boy" network that has been in place for the last century in Tecumseh.  Protect our buddies and the citizens that have a little power, who knows they may vote against my pay raise if I were to arrest him.  I know a kid that was arrested for saying "there goes the fuzz"  when now retired Tecumseh police officer Gary Greene drove by the youth out for lunch in Jr. High back in 1968.  Well at least they can still arrest the youths in our community for breeching the First Amendment, no, oh wait, that protects free speech. 

Tecumseh cops are always willing to arrest kids, just not their own kind.