Being Arrested
MCL 764.15 — without a warrant for an offense in the officer's presence, or reasonable cause of a felony or a misdemeanor over 92 days
A peace officer may arrest a person without a warrant when a felony, misdemeanor or ordinance violation is committed in the officer's presence. For a felony outside the officer's presence, the officer may arrest when the person committed it, or when a felony was in fact committed and the officer has reasonable cause to believe the person committed it. The section lists other situations too:
- Reasonable cause to believe a misdemeanor punishable by more than 92 days, or a felony, was committed and that the person committed it, including from a police radio broadcast.
- Positive information from an authoritative source that another officer or a court holds a warrant for the person.
- Reasonable cause to believe the person escaped, or violated parole, the conditions of a pardon, or a conditional release or probation order.
- Reasonable cause to believe the person drove in violation of the vehicle code's drunk or impaired driving provisions and was the driver in an accident, or was found in the driver's seat of a vehicle stopped with part of it in the roadway.
- Reasonable cause to believe the person committed retail fraud, or a misdemeanor on school property, whether or not the officer saw it.
When arresting without a warrant, the officer informs the person of the officer's authority and the cause of the arrest, unless the person is committing a criminal offense at the time, flees, or forcibly resists before the officer has time to.
After an arrest without a warrant, the officer takes the person without unnecessary delay before a magistrate of the judicial district where the offense is charged, and presents a complaint stating the charge.
Whoever makes an arrest takes any offensive weapons or incriminating articles the person has about them, and delivers them to the sheriff, the chief of police, or the magistrate. An officer arresting with a warrant, or making a felony arrest without one, may break open an inner or outer door of a building where the person is, or is reasonably believed to be, after announcing the purpose and being refused admittance.
An arrest by a private person. A private person may arrest for a felony committed in their presence, for a felony the person has committed outside it, or when summoned by a peace officer to help. A merchant, or a merchant's employee, agent or security contractor, may arrest on reasonable cause to believe the person committed retail fraud in that store. A private person arresting for a felony committed in their presence may also break open a door after announcing the purpose and being refused admittance.
Interim bond after an arrest is on the bond page. Searches at the time of arrest, and what a person says to an officer, are not covered here.
Sources for this section (6)
- MCL 764.15 — Arrest by a peace officer without a warrant
- MCL 764.19 — Informing the person of the authority and cause of an arrest
- MCL 764.13 — Taking a person arrested without a warrant before a magistrate
- MCL 764.25 — Weapons and articles taken from a person arrested
- MCL 764.21 — Breaking open a door to make an arrest
- MCL 764.16 — Arrest by a private person
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Michigan attorney.