Charges Often Filed Alongside OWI in Michigan

Charges that can be filed together with a Michigan OWI include driving while license suspended or revoked, open intoxicants in a vehicle, reckless driving, leaving the scene of a crash, and moving violations causing injury or death.^{[1][5][2][6][7]} Each has its own statute and penalty, and some interact with the OWI count in ways that limit what can be combined.^[4]

Whether any of these is charged depends on the facts and on the prosecuting attorney's charging decision. This page lists the common companion offenses with their statutes, in summary, and then explains how they fit together with the OWI charge. Felony injury and death cases are covered in depth on the pages for OWI causing serious impairment and OWI causing death.

The common companion charges at a glance

Offense and statute	Type	Maximum penalty
Driving while license suspended, revoked or denied, or never licensed: MCL 257.904(1), (3)	Misdemeanor	93 days and/or $500; after a prior conviction, 1 year and/or $1,000[1]
DWLS causing death: MCL 257.904(4)	Felony	15 years and/or $2,500 to $10,000[8]
DWLS causing serious impairment: MCL 257.904(5)	Felony	5 years and/or $1,000 to $5,000[8]
Open intoxicants in a vehicle: MCL 257.624a	Misdemeanor	The section states no specific maximum[5]
Reckless driving: MCL 257.626(2)	Misdemeanor	93 days and/or $500[2]
Reckless driving causing serious impairment: MCL 257.626(3)	Felony	5 years and/or $1,000 to $5,000[2]
Reckless driving causing death: MCL 257.626(4)	Felony	15 years and/or $2,500 to $10,000[2]
Careless driving: MCL 257.626b	Civil infraction	Not a crime[3]
Leaving the scene of an injury crash: MCL 257.617a	Misdemeanor	1 year and/or $1,000, plus license suspension[9]
Leaving the scene, serious impairment or death: MCL 257.617(2)	Felony	5 years and/or $5,000[6]
Leaving the scene of a fatal crash the driver caused: MCL 257.617(3)	Felony	15 years and/or $10,000[6]
Moving violation causing death: MCL 257.601d(1)	Misdemeanor	1 year and/or $2,000[7]
Moving violation causing serious impairment: MCL 257.601d(2)	Misdemeanor	93 days and/or $500[7]
Child endangerment (OWI with a passenger under 16), 1st: MCL 257.625(7)	Misdemeanor	Up to 1 year and/or 30 to 90 days community service, plus a mandatory $200 to $1,000 fine[10]

Driving while license suspended or revoked

A driver arrested for OWI may also be charged with DWLS if the license was already suspended, revoked or denied, or if the person never applied for a license.^[11] The penalty is up to 93 days and/or $500 for a first violation and up to 1 year and/or $1,000 after a prior conviction.^[1] On a police officer's notice, the Secretary of State must cancel the vehicle's registration plates unless the vehicle was stolen or, for a first violation, was used with the permission of an owner who did not knowingly allow an unlicensed driver.^[12] When the Secretary of State receives the conviction, it adds another suspension or revocation equal in length to the original one.^[13] The details, including the 2021 changes for unpaid-fine suspensions, are on driving while license suspended or revoked.

Open intoxicants and under-21 transport

A driver or passenger may not transport or possess an open or unsealed container of alcohol in the passenger area of a vehicle on a highway, or of a moving vehicle in a public or generally accessible place.^[5] The court may order community service and substance-abuse screening.^[5] Exceptions include a vehicle with no trunk where the container is in a locked glove compartment, behind the last upright seat, or in an area not normally occupied; passengers in state-authorized chartered vehicles; and, unless a local ordinance says otherwise, passengers on a commercial quadricycle.^[14]

Open intoxicants (624a) and under-21 transport or possession in a vehicle (624b) each carry 2 points.^[15] A license suspension follows only with a prior 624a or 624b conviction: 90 days with one prior, 1 year with two or more.^[16] A court may not accept a plea to open intoxicants from a person charged only with zero tolerance.^[17] See open containers in a vehicle.

Reckless and careless driving

Reckless driving means driving "in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property."^[2] The current jury instruction, amended in September 2026, defines willful or wanton disregard as more than simple carelessness, not requiring intent to harm, and meaning knowingly disregarding possible risks to people or property.^[18] Careless or negligent driving without wantonness or recklessness is only a civil infraction.^[3]

Reckless driving causing death or serious impairment counts as a prior conviction for a later OWI, but plain reckless driving under subsection (2) is not on the list.^[19][20]

Leaving the scene

A driver who knows or has reason to believe he or she was involved in a crash on public or private property open to public travel must stop and remain at the scene, or immediately report the crash if there is a reasonable and honest belief that staying would cause further harm.^[9] The penalties step up with the harm: a 1-year misdemeanor for injury, a 5-year felony for serious impairment or death, and a 15-year felony if the driver caused the crash and someone died.^[9][6]

Moving violation causing death or serious impairment

MCL 257.601d makes it a misdemeanor to commit a moving violation that is the proximate cause of another person's death (up to 1 year and/or $2,000) or that causes serious impairment of a body function (up to 93 days and/or $500).^[7] The section "does not prohibit the person from being charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation of law."^[21] A 601d conviction counts as a prior conviction for later OWI enhancement.^[20]

Other offenses that can come up

• Allowing an intoxicated person to drive your vehicle: a 93-day misdemeanor, or a felony if the driver causes death or serious impairment.^[22]
• Ignition interlock offenses: driving without a required interlock, having someone else blow into it, or tampering are misdemeanors punishable by up to 6 months and/or $5,000.^[23]
• Violating a restricted license: a misdemeanor, and the Secretary of State may suspend or revoke the license.^[24]
• Carrying a concealed pistol while under the influence: a misdemeanor with CPL revocation at 0.10 or more or when under the influence, and lesser sanctions at lower levels.^[25]
• Minor in possession, for drivers under 21: a civil infraction on a first violation since January 1, 2018.^[26] See minor in possession of alcohol.
• Vehicle homicide charges: Court of Appeals decisions have upheld convictions for both OWI causing death and involuntary manslaughter or second-degree murder for the same death.^[27]

Refusing a test is usually not a separate crime. A roadside PBT refusal is a civil infraction except for commercial drivers, who commit a misdemeanor.^[28][29] An evidentiary-test refusal leads to license consequences.^[30]

How companion charges interact with the OWI count

• OWI and OWI causing serious impairment for one incident: both convictions cannot stand under double jeopardy (People v Miller, 2015).^[4]
• Child endangerment and OWI causing death or serious impairment: the statute expressly allows both, though points are not assessed for both.^[31]
• OWI causing death and DWLS causing death for one death: the Court of Appeals held both convictions do not violate double jeopardy.^[27]
• Each death in one crash may be charged separately, with consecutive prison terms allowed.^[32]
• License suspensions: when several convictions come from the same incident, the Secretary of State imposes only the longest suspension.^[33]
• Prior convictions: if two or more qualifying convictions arise from the same transaction, only one counts as a prior for a later OWI.^[34]
• Plea limits: a court may not accept a plea to zero tolerance in exchange for dismissing an OWI charge, though it may dismiss on the prosecutor's motion.^[35]

Plea procedure is covered in plea agreements in OWI cases; for general plea types, see the Domestic Violence guide's page on guilty and no-contest pleas.