Detroit cop accused of demanding women's phone numbers had previous brushes with law

A former Detroit cop accused of demanding the phone numbers of two women in exchange for not getting ticketed or arrested during downtown traffic stops has a checkered past.

Chancellor Dmitri Searcy was arrested in October 2015 and charged with embezzlement, larceny, and filing a false felony report after prosecutors said he stole money from suspects. Searcy and his partner, Charles Lynem, were accused of pocketing money from a 33-year-old Detroit man at a gas station in March 2013.

In August 2014, prosecutors said Searcy frisked a 28-year-old Detroit man and took his money. Six days later, Searcy was accused of pocketing money from another man during a traffic stop.

In September 2014, prosecutors said Searcy and Lynem fabricated the circumstances and documentation of the arrest of a 41-year-old man for carrying a concealed weapon.

The officers, both of whom had been suspended, were acquitted by a jury. The officers were allowed to return to work.

In June 2010, Searcy had another brush with the law during an alleged off-duty road rage incident, The Detroit Free Press discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request. A woman driving with three friends and a 2-year-old in the car said Searcy threatened to shoot her and her passengers after she honked at him for standing in the street in Detroit.

According to the warrant request, Searcy followed the woman as she rushed to the Highland Park police station for help. Officers found a handgun between Searcy's armrest and driver’s seat and tried to arrest him.

Police said Searcy failed to comply with the officers’ demands to put his hands over his head. Searcy also refused to talk to internal affairs.

The prosecutor’s office eventually decided not to charge Searcy, citing inadequate evidence. Searcy was never disciplined over the incident.

The latest charges against Searcy stem from traffic stops in July 2018 and August 2018. A 21-year-old Sterling Heights woman told prosecutors that Searcy demanded her phone number. After she said Searcy called and texted her, the woman filed a complaint with the police department.

A 29-year-old Ray Township woman said she was pulled over for making an illegal turn, and Searcy accused her of driving with a suspended license, a claim that she denies. She told prosecutors that Searcy threatened to arrest her and impound her car unless she gave him her phone number.

Searcy was charged in July with two counts of misconduct in office and has since resigned.

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