DETROIT (WWJ) – A Macomb County woman is awaiting charges after allegedly resisting arrest and claiming to be a sovereign citizen during a New Year’s Eve traffic stop in Detroit.
It happened just before 10 p.m. Sunday along westbound I-94 near I-75, as a Michigan State Police trooper on patrol stopped a 54-year-old woman from Macomb Township for suspected impaired driving.
When she was asked to get out of the car, she refused, claiming to be a sovereign citizen. The FBI describes sovereign citizens as “anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country they are separate from the United States."
Sovereign citizens claim to be exempt from any U.S. laws.
After multiple attempts to get her to exit the vehicle on her own, troopers broke the driver’s side window and opened the door, according to MSP.
The suspect began to push and pull the troopers, but was eventually taken into custody. No injuries were reported to the suspect or troopers during the incident.
Authorities got a search warrant to draw the woman’s blood to determine whether she was intoxicated. Results are pending. She was held at the Detroit Detention Center pending prosecutor review. Her name has not been released.