College student faces felony charges for driving to a well-lit area during traffic stop

It's conventional wisdom that if a police officer pulls you over late at night, you can proceed slowly to a well-lit, public area to make sure the stop is safe and legitimate. But when DaJuawn Wallace, a graduate student at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan, attempted to put this rule into practice, he found himself arrested and slapped with a felony charge for "fleeing and eluding" police.

The stop took place at 2 a.m., while Wallace was out purchasing medicine for his girlfriend. When he saw police lights behind him, he slowly drove to a nearby Sam's Club, waving for the officer to follow him. "I live in Detroit, and I know some people who were robbed by fake police officers," Wallace explained. "I was not speeding up, turning off my lights or trying to get away." He was only pulled over because the cop thought his car resembled one he'd seen driving on a sidewalk earlier that day.

Wallace has been offered a plea deal to reduce his charge to a misdemeanor, but taking it would cause him to lose his job and any financial aid opportunities for his master's program. He is pushing for a complete dismissal of charges because, he says, "I feel like I didn't do anything wrong."

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