Taking a Phone or Stopping a 911 Call in Michigan (MCL 750.540)

Taking, breaking or unplugging a phone to stop someone from calling for help can be charged in Michigan under MCL 750.540, which prohibits willfully and maliciously preventing, obstructing, or delaying the sending or delivery of an authorized communication by telephone or any electronic medium of communication.^[1] A violation is a felony punishable by up to 2 years in prison, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, even when the underlying domestic assault is a 93-day misdemeanor.^[2][4]

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline answers around the clock at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or text START to 88788.^[5] Michigan's statewide VOICES4 hotline takes calls and texts at 855-864-2374.^[6][7]

The statute is a general communications law. It does not mention domestic violence, yet it can be charged alongside a domestic assault arising from the same event.^[1][3] This page explains what it covers, the two penalty tiers, and the other charges that can arise from the same few seconds.

What does MCL 750.540 prohibit?

The section lists four kinds of conduct, each of which has to be done "willfully and maliciously."^[1]

Subsection	Conduct
(1)	Cutting, breaking, disconnecting, interrupting, tapping, or making any unauthorized connection with any electronic medium of communication, including the internet or a computer, or a telephone.[1]
(2)	Reading or copying any message from a telephone or other electronic medium of communication that the person accessed without authorization.[1]
(3)	Making unauthorized use of any electronic medium of communication, including the internet or a computer, or a telephone.[1]
(4)	Preventing, obstructing, or delaying by any means the sending, conveyance, or delivery of any authorized communication by or through any telegraph or telephone line, cable, wire, or any electronic medium of communication.[1]

The subsections that match a call for help being stopped are (1) and (4): breaking or disconnecting a telephone, and preventing, obstructing, or delaying a communication.^[1] A phone grabbed out of a hand, thrown, or smashed, or a line pulled from the wall while someone is trying to call, is the kind of allegation charged under them. Subsection (2), reading messages on a device accessed without authorization, is a different kind of allegation, discussed with monitoring a partner; see GPS tracking and spying on a partner.^[1]

Three features of the wording shape how the charge works:

• "By any means." Subsection (4) is not limited to damaging equipment. Preventing, obstructing or delaying a communication "by any means" is covered.^[1]
• "Delay." The subsection lists delaying a communication alongside preventing it.^[1]
• Any electronic medium. The section reaches the internet and computers as well as telephones, and "internet" includes voice over internet protocol services.^[1][3]

The statute never says "911"

People commonly call this charge "interfering with a 911 call." That is a description, not the statute's wording. The words 911, emergency and domestic do not appear in the section; it applies to "any authorized communication."^[1] The text draws no distinction between a call to a dispatcher and a call to a relative, a neighbor, or a friend.^[1]

The section does not define "authorized communication" or "willfully and maliciously."^[1] How those terms apply to a set of facts is decided in the case itself, and this guide does not state a rule the statute does not contain.

Penalties: two tiers

Situation	Level	Maximum prison	Maximum fine
Any violation of the section, except as provided in the next row[2]	Felony	2 years	$1,000
The incident to be reported results in injury to or the death of any person[2]	Felony	4 years	$5,000

The higher tier turns on the result of "the incident to be reported," not on what happened to the phone.^[2] The section does not define that phrase.^[1]

It is sometimes said that stopping a call for help is a misdemeanor. Under the statute it is a felony at both tiers.^[2] The difference between the two levels of crime, and why it matters for which court hears the case, is explained in Misdemeanor vs. felony domestic violence.

How it is added to a domestic assault case

MCL 750.540 says that it "does not prohibit a person from being charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation of law committed by that person while violating or attempting to violate this section."^[3] A complaint can therefore contain a domestic assault count and a count under this section for the same event.

The added count changes the case in practical ways:

• Court. A first-offense domestic assault is tried and sentenced in district court. A charge of interfering with electronic communications is a felony that begins in district court with an arraignment, a probable cause conference and a preliminary examination and, if bound over, is tried and sentenced in circuit court.^[8]
• Exposure. The maximum moves from 93 days for a first domestic assault to 2 years, or 4 years at the higher tier.^[4][2]
• Time to charge. Like domestic assault, the offense falls under the general rule that charges may be filed within 6 years after the offense is committed.^[9]
• Firearms. For Michigan's firearm statute, a felony is an offense punishable by more than 1 year of imprisonment.^[10] A person convicted of a felony may not possess, use, purchase, or carry a firearm in Michigan until at least 3 years after paying all fines, serving all imprisonment, and completing probation or parole, and some felonies carry a longer period.^[11][12] A felony conviction is also a permanent bar to a concealed pistol license.^[13]

In Michigan the prosecuting attorney alone decides which charges to bring.^[14] That process is described in Who decides to file charges, and the stages of a felony case in the felony case timeline.

Other charges that can come from the same act

Damage to the phone

If the phone belonged to someone else and was damaged, malicious destruction of personal property may be charged, with the level set by the amount of damage.^[15] Where the accused and the property owner are in a domestic relationship and the damage is under $1,000, the statute has domestic-relationship versions of the offense, and a conviction under them is a misdemeanor involving domestic violence for Michigan's firearm ban.^[16] See Breaking things: malicious destruction of property, which also explains what the sources do and do not say about jointly owned property.

Using force to prevent a report

A separate statute, MCL 750.483a(1)(b), makes it a crime to "prevent or attempt to prevent through the unlawful use of physical force another person from reporting a crime committed or attempted by another person."^[17] That offense is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year and $1,000, or a felony punishable by up to 10 years and $20,000 if the violation involves committing or attempting to commit a crime or a threat to kill or injure any person or to cause property damage.^[17] It is discussed with the other obstruction offenses in Witness tampering and pressuring a victim not to testify.

Keeping the person from leaving

Where the allegation is that a person was physically held in place, the facts may also be examined under the unlawful imprisonment statute, which requires a knowing restraint plus one of three listed circumstances.^[18] That charge is explained in Blocking the door: unlawful imprisonment.

What the evidence usually looks like

Evidence in a case under this section can include an incomplete or disconnected call in dispatch records, a damaged phone, the statements of the people present, and what officers recorded on arrival. How dispatch recordings are used is covered in 911 calls as evidence, and officers' recordings in Body camera footage.

Every subsection requires that the act be done "willfully and maliciously."^[1] Whether a phone was dropped by accident or knocked away in a struggle, rather than taken on purpose, is therefore a question of proof in the individual case. General defenses are surveyed in Defenses to domestic violence charges and Accident and lack of intent.

What people get wrong

• "It is only a misdemeanor." It is a felony with a 2-year maximum, or 4 years if the incident to be reported results in injury or death.^[2]
• "It only applies to 911." The text covers any authorized communication.^[1]
• "It can't be charged along with the assault." The section itself permits other charges for conduct committed while violating it.^[3]
• "It only applies to landlines." The section covers any electronic medium of communication, including the internet.^[1]