I feel a cop lied to me.

[Guest]

Today things at home got hairy. Like they have many times in the past . Well my mom forced me to leave, telling me to move out. So I packed my bags and my friends mom came to get us. When she got hear my mother told her if I left with her it was kidnapping. So my friends mom took us to the police to straighten things out . Let's point out I'm 17, and I live in Michigan . I will be 18 in July. The cops have told me that I had to go home if my mom wanted me home. Yet I was crying and telling them what happened which they did not write anything down and seemed very biased. Told them I was scared to go home . Well they put me in a cop car and took me home. According to the operator that my mom spoke to she told her I did not have return home if I did not want to. The cop told me I would have to. I looked up multiple times if I had the choice not to go home and all websites said legally they couldn't make me but they did. Was I lied to?

[ccsmod11]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. It sounds like you’ve been dealing with a really frustrating and confusing situation. It’s always difficult to run away, and it’s always difficult to talk with the police. What a difficult thing to do both. We hope we can help you find some clarity.

Unfortunately, we are not legal experts. We can provide general information, but laws may vary from what is typical in the U.S. where you live. Usually, however, if you leave home without your parent’s permission (this includes if they change their mind about giving you permission, i.e. your mom said it was fine that you left, and then changed her mind), that parent can file a runaway report on you to the police, and the police are supposed to find you and return you home. There may be a law in your jurisdiction that makes it so runaway reports are not valid for 17 year olds, but it sounds like the police still treated you as a runaway, so that seems unlikely. We would recommend you call your non-emergency police for more detailed information, but they seem to be the source of your confusion. It may be wise to assume that your jurisdiction takes runaway reports for 17 year olds.

We hope this response was helpful! We’d love to hear from you about your experience using our crisis email/forum. Your feedback plays an important role in helping us improve our services to youth and families. Please click the link to fill out our survey: We care what you think https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think