Please Help Steven

Hi, my name is Mercedes. And the guy pictured above? That's Steven. We have been together for 16 years. We own homes together, have 3 kids together (2 ours and 1 his adopted brother), we house his other 2 younger siblings who don't have either of their parents, and most recently he followed one of his longest dreams and opened a business in the powersports industry to help be a part of a community that he absolutely loves.

Steven is the most caring, hard working guy I know, with a heart made of gold. He is willing to drop everything to help friends and family when they are in need. And unfortunately, now he is in need. Just before he opened his shop, he had been let go by his employer, and for months has fought with unemployment and still has yet to see a cent from them. When he decided he wanted to become a small business owner and support his local community, we had to dip into our savings to make his dream a reality. That has left myself to maintain our household financially since April.

A couple nights ago, we hopped on our motorcycles and went out for our normal Friday night ride. We have done this every Friday with a group of our friends for the past 3 years. And our bikes may not be what you'd expect. We don't ride cruisers or sport bikes. We ride mini bikes. Street legal pit bikes. Scooters. Bikes that barely go 55 mph.

We have never had any altercations with police, however during that ride, we had a run in with a police officer in the valley. He is now singling Steven out of a group of 20 riders, accusing him of a class C felony, attempting to elude. A felony. On a mini bike. That tops out at 50 mph. To clarify, Steven had at one point been at the back of the pack with me, but moved back towards the middle to be closer to his friends. The officer never pulled him over on the bike, never made it clear over the sound of a group of 20 motorcycles that he wanted the attention of one single person, had turned his lights off halfway through following the pack (yes, he rode alongside the pack with no lights on), and even stopped at a red light right next to the pack. When the light changed green, we turned and he stopped following us. At which point seems odd for someone who states he's being eluded.

A little while later, I got a call from a private number which I ignored. Steven also got a call from a private number. He answered and it was the officer. He told Steven if he refused to meet with him that night and get arrested, he was going to put out a warrant and he could be arrested later. Even though Steven didn't understand what the officer was accusing him of, he gave the officer his updated address, the address to the business he just opened, and told the officer he would meet him there within a specific window of time. And he did.

During the meeting he stated he wanted Steven to admit he had tried to run from him, and that he needed to face this like an adult. He used several different tactics to try and coerse an admission of guilt for something he didn't do. The officer told him if he didn't talk he was going to jail, so thats what he did. The officer even tried to get me to talk to him about it, while being unnecessarily sarcastic, and assumptive.

Normally I would never do this type of thing, but unfortunately I have to. I need to hire an attorney to fight for Steven and his rights. This officer has every intention of charging a father of 3, small business owner, with no criminal history of a felony that could affect the rest of his life. He could spend up to 5 years in prison, get fined up to $10,000 or both, as well as lose his firearm and voting rights, and destroy everything we've given up for him to follow his dream. Unfortunately Steven's business is brand new and not producing any personal revenue for us and my wages just can't support our entire household, our entire life, and pay for an attorney. I already have one picked out and he has faith that Steven has truth on his side, but I need to make sure that someone who cares about him is representing him. Please, if Steven has ever helped you, if I have ever helped you, please find it in your heart to return the favor. We could really use it right now.