Detroit cop allegedly sought phone numbers from women he stopped

A Detroit police officer accused of threatening to issue tickets to two women unless they gave him their phone numbers was formally charged Wednesday with misconduct in office.

Investigators allege that while pulling over a 21-year-old driver near Woodward and Congress on July 2, 2018, Chancellor Dmitri Searcy told  her to give him her phone number to avoid being ticketed, authorities allege.

"After doing so, it is alleged that the victim received unwanted calls and texts from Officer Searcy," the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement Tuesday.

Authorities accuse Searcy of acting similarly during a traffic stop near Woodward and Jefferson on Aug. 14, 2018.

The officer reportedly told  a 29-year-old driver "that she would go to jail, have her car impounded and receive a ticket unless" the woman gave Searcy her phone number, investigators said. 

After doing so, the victim received unwanted calls and texts from him, according to the release.

Searcy was arraigned Wednesday in 36th District Court in Detroit on two counts of misconduct in office before Magistrate Laura Echartea. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Searcy has been suspended with pay, department representatives said Wednesday. A request to suspend him without pay was expected to go to the city Board of Police Commissioners.

He is scheduled to be back in court at 8:30 a.m. July 24 for a probable cause conference and for a preliminary examination at 9 a.m. July 30, both before Judge Kenyetta Stanford Jones. A $15,000 personal bond was set.

The Detroit resident has faced other legal troubles while on the job.

In 2015, following a lengthy investigation, he and another city police officer were arrested and charged with embezzlement, larceny and filing a false felony report.

The two partners in the city's tactical response unit were accused of taking money from three people, starting with a 33-year-old man arrested in March 2013 at a gas station.

In 2017, a jury acquitted both officers, who had been suspended. Police Chief James Craig said at the time that they could return to work.