Saline man and his teenage children arrested in scuffle with police
A Saline man and his two teenage children were charged with multiple crimes after a recent run-in with Saline police investigating possible car break-ins.
Timothy Murphy, 41, is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing this week on two counts of resisting and obstructing police. He is accused of scuffling with officers while trying to intervene in his 15-year-old son’s arrest on July 30.
Murphy's son was apprehended with a 16-year-old Saline boy as they tried to break into vehicles parked outside Thorncrest Apartments in the 200 block of Clark Street at about 2:30 a.m., reports said.
Both were visibly intoxicated, and the 15-year-old boy was combative, police said. He struck his head against the window of the patrol car, damaging the frame.
A preliminary breath test showed a blood alcohol content of .12, which required a medical evaluation before he was transported to juvenile detention, reports said.
While the boy was being loaded into an ambulance outside the police station, officers said his father and sister showed up, yelling to let him go.
Police said Murphy was visibly intoxicated and irate as he and his daughter approached, so the officer used chemical spray on them, reports said.
Both Murphy and his 13-year-old daughter made physical contact with the officers and Huron Valley Ambulance paramedics, causing minor injuries, reports said.
Murphy’s daughter was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital - Saline for an evaluation before she was transported to juvenile detention. She waived her preliminary hearing last week and pleaded guilty to counts of resisting police and disturbing the peace, court records show. Police said she was released to her mother’s custody in Wayne County pending sentencing.
Murphy's 15-year-old son remains in custody and is charged with larceny from an auto, resisting police, malicious destruction of police property, and possessing alcohol as a minor.
The son's 16-year-old friend was turned over to his mother and is also facing larceny and alcohol possession charges.
One resident in the apartment complex reported her vehicle was broken into overnight, and a GPS unit was taken.
Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.
Comments
Cash
Sun, Aug 22, 2010 : 3:27 p.m.
If you dig deeper into public records, you will find the sheriff's dept has been to his home several times. How does this type of activity get past protective services so many times in the past? Do the departments have communication with eachother? Where is the mom through out all this?
stunhsif
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 9:04 p.m.
It is really rather sad that all these type of incidents must be made public. This family is going to have enough problems without the public following every step they make. Hopefully Momma can come to the daughters rescue while Dad and son milk the taxpayers for their serious mistakes.
Jojobubbajr.
Fri, Aug 13, 2010 : 4:14 p.m.
Faith: you are making some fairly ignorant comments, don't you think? Listen to yourself. "iron clad / airtight"???? Were you there? A2.com is only reporting what the police report states. Don't you think the comment regarding the boy hitting his head on the police car window and damaging the frame might have just a hint of cover up to it? (Not saying I personally think that is the case---just thought it was an odd remark). As Katie pointed out: maybe the father felt the police were hurting his son, what father would NOT seem irate in that case? Seems like you have your mind made up about these people that you only know about from this one-sided report. Yes, I know the man in question and have more insight on the topic but I would like to believe that I am not naive enough to believe everything I read. I certainly would not pass judgement on anyone solely based on one very brief news article derived exclusively from a police report. Again, it is sad. These people, and others like them, deserve our compassion and understanding as a community; something obviously has gone very wrong in their lives... I am all for punishing criminals to the fullest extent that the law allows but I feel it is unfair to make judgements about peoples entire lives (if you feel the need to make judgements at all) with this very small amount of information. "people who live in glass houses...walk a mile in a man's shoes...judge not lest ye be judged..." I don't know just my thoughts....let's stop blaming and start solving.... It's all my fault! There now let's move on.
Jojobubbajr.
Fri, Aug 13, 2010 : 9:57 a.m.
It is sad. Katie: of course there is MUCH more to the story. I know this man and will just tell you that he is PAINFULLY aware of his shortcomings as a parent. Please remember that this article only gives you a small snapshot of these peoples lives taken on one night at their lowest point. Please don't be so quick to judge.
redblue
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 12:11 a.m.
I am noticing that an unusually high number of comments are being removed from the pages by the staff. It seems that the Ann Arbor news is going a little overboard with the censorship...
Jimmy McNulty
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 10:17 a.m.
Ahh, a proud moment. Father and son can attend each other's court hearings. Times like these are priceless.
ez12c
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 8:45 a.m.
I'm betting mom's furious!
StrongFire
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 7:58 a.m.
It's unfortunate that the parent's lack of respect for law enforcement is transmitted to the children. I've seen this problem perpetuated through many generations in some families. They just don't get it when they fail to take personal responsibility for their actions and attribute all their problems to law enforcement.
GRANDPABOB
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 7:42 a.m.
Public drunkeness is against the law.
Dave66
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 7:35 a.m.
There's a guy with the same name (Timothy Murphy) running for Congress in Pennsylvania. How embarrassing that sometime soon a Google search of his name might start finding both of them.
katie
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 6:43 a.m.
Is there any more to this story? I'd like to know the circumstances under which the boy bumped his head on the police vehicle. Perhaps the father was upset at seeing his son injured or something. As far as I know the father was not driving while intoxicated. There is no law against drinking to intoxication. The story did make it sound like it was a pretty dysfunctional family, but I'm wondering if there is more to it than that.
Herbie
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 6:21 a.m.
be wise at all times at a parent,he should have approached officers and politely asked can i asked a question,it would have disfussed an embarrsing situation.
Momma G
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 6:29 p.m.
What a wonderful roll model that father is. I hope he loses custody of his children and he has to pay for the damages to the police vehicle & those other cars that have been vandalized. Why is his son out at 2:30 a.m. anyway?
Faith
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 12:47 p.m.
"(Comments removed that were off-topic and/or assumed the accused are guilty)" Okay, I can see removing the portion that may have been off-topic, but to remove a comment assuming guilt??? Doesn't the story say "Murphy's son was apprehended with a 16-year-old Saline boy as they tried to break into vehicles..."? There's no assumption of guilt there, that is pretty air-tight. Then there is "Murphy and his 13-year-old daughter made physical contact with the officers and Huron Valley Ambulance paramedics, causing minor injuries." Again, pretty iron-clad. Another example of stellar parenting. The 15 year old (visibly intoxicated and blew a 0,12) and the dad drunk (visibly intoxicated) and the 13 year old sister who plead guilty to resisting...brilliant. Wonder if they can get a family cell discount.
AlwaysLate
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 10:20 a.m.
Don't you love to see a family doing things together? How wholesome...
Deb
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 9:15 a.m.
Another parent of the year award in the making. It's sad, that's all there is to say.
krc
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 9:14 a.m.
Nice parenting. And such a wonderful model.
Bob Needham
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 9 a.m.
(Comments removed that were off-topic and/or assumed the accused are guilty)