Michigan bar owner facing felony resisting charge for videotaping cop



Distraught that his business partner had just committed suicide, Patrick Colligan refused to leave the area when ordered to do so by a Michigan State Trooper.

However, he never once crossed the police line where officers were investigating the suicide of his partner, who was going to be arrested that afternoon for a murder he allegedly committed.

In fact, Colligan, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, even handed the Trooper his gun when ordered to do so.

But when he pulled out a video camera and started filming, he refused to hand that over, according MLive.com, a conglomeration of regional newspapers in Michigan.

Colligan then began videotaping from N. Meridian Road. Green told Colligan to hand over the camera and Colligan refused. A short struggle for the camera ensued in a ditch, Green testified.

Moments later, Colligan was placed in handcuffs, which he resisted, Green said.

The prosecution contends Colligan’s failure to follow orders hindered Green from doing his job at the crime scene.

The incident occurred Dec. 17th in Jackson County. Last week, a Michigan judge bound the case over for trial.

Now Colligan is facing up to two years in prison for felony resisting and obstructing an officer.

However, even the arresting officer contends that Colligan never crossed the police line and remained at least 200 feet from the driveway where his partner had committed suicide.

Here is an interesting comment someone left in the comments section of the article:

I was in the courtroom, why does the prosecutor want to suppress the police video (from the police car)? Were the police acting unprofessionally? Does it show that Patrick wasn’t resisting as they claim? What is wrong with video taping from that distance? It wasn’t a long distance lens or anything if it was in his coat pocket and they didn’t notice it until he had it in his hands. I think the police were in the wrong here and it’s hard to believe that the court is willing to spend money on taking this case to court. It should have been dismissed or charges lowered to loitering or something. Is there a law against video taping, picture taking or otherwise recording at a “crime scene”? If there is an actual law then why isn’t it publicly known? Don’t newspaper and television journalists do this on a daily basis? If so, why aren’t they prosecuted? If filming isn’t allowed then how did the picture of the scene get on the news and in the paper? It wasn’t from Patrick’s camera since the office on the stand doesn’t know where that is right now! This entire case is junk and should be dropped.

His business partner, Todd Sanford, was a former State Trooper cop who allegedly shot and killed corrections officer Steven Sampier last November over a woman they were both dating.

I hope she was worth it.



Distraught that his business partner had just committed suicide, Patrick Colligan refused to leave the area when ordered to do so by a Michigan State Trooper.

However, he never once crossed the police line where officers were investigating the suicide of his partner, who was going to be arrested that afternoon for a murder he allegedly committed.

In fact, Colligan, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, even handed the Trooper his gun when ordered to do so.

But when he pulled out a video camera and started filming, he refused to hand that over, according MLive.com, a conglomeration of regional newspapers in Michigan.

Colligan then began videotaping from N. Meridian Road. Green told Colligan to hand over the camera and Colligan refused. A short struggle for the camera ensued in a ditch, Green testified.

Moments later, Colligan was placed in handcuffs, which he resisted, Green said.

The prosecution contends Colligan’s failure to follow orders hindered Green from doing his job at the crime scene.

The incident occurred Dec. 17th in Jackson County. Last week, a Michigan judge bound the case over for trial.

Now Colligan is facing up to two years in prison for felony resisting and obstructing an officer.

However, even the arresting officer contends that Colligan never crossed the police line and remained at least 200 feet from the driveway where his partner had committed suicide.

Here is an interesting comment someone left in the comments section of the article:

I was in the courtroom, why does the prosecutor want to suppress the police video (from the police car)? Were the police acting unprofessionally? Does it show that Patrick wasn’t resisting as they claim? What is wrong with video taping from that distance? It wasn’t a long distance lens or anything if it was in his coat pocket and they didn’t notice it until he had it in his hands. I think the police were in the wrong here and it’s hard to believe that the court is willing to spend money on taking this case to court. It should have been dismissed or charges lowered to loitering or something. Is there a law against video taping, picture taking or otherwise recording at a “crime scene”? If there is an actual law then why isn’t it publicly known? Don’t newspaper and television journalists do this on a daily basis? If so, why aren’t they prosecuted? If filming isn’t allowed then how did the picture of the scene get on the news and in the paper? It wasn’t from Patrick’s camera since the office on the stand doesn’t know where that is right now! This entire case is junk and should be dropped.

His business partner, Todd Sanford, was a former State Trooper cop who allegedly shot and killed corrections officer Steven Sampier last November over a woman they were both dating.

I hope she was worth it.

Support our Mission

Help us build a database of bad cops

For almost 15 years, PINAC News has remained active despite continuous efforts by the government and Big Tech to shut us down by either arresting us for lawful activity or by restricting access to our readers under the pretense that we write about “social issues.”

Since we are forbidden from discussing social issues on social media, we have created forums on our site to allow us to fulfill our mission with as little restriction as possible. We welcome our readers to join our forums and support our mission by either donating, volunteering or both.

Our plan is to build a national database of bad cops obtained from public records maintained by local prosecutors. The goal is to teach our readers how to obtain these lists to ensure we cover every city, county and state in the country.

After all, the government has made it clear it will not police the police so the role falls upon us.

It will be our most ambitious project yet but it can only be done with your help.

But if we succeed, we will be able to keep innocent people out of prison.

Please make a donation below or click on side tab to learn more about our mission.

Subscribe to PINAC

Bypass Big Tech censorship.

Carlos Miller
Carlos Millerhttps://pinacnews.com
Editor-in-Chief Carlos Miller spent a decade covering the cop beat for various newspapers in the Southwest before returning to his hometown Miami and launching Photography is Not a Crime aka PINAC News in 2007. He also published a book, The Citizen Journalist's Photography Handbook, which is available on Amazon.

Leave a Reply

- Advertisement -

Latest articles