Stars Of Valenti And Foster Show Have Run-In With Royal Oak Police Over Jaywalking; Chief Apologizes

ROYAL OAK (CBS Detroit) -- At around 9 p.m. on a weeknight, downtown Royal Oak has a modest amount of foot traffic.

Walking the streets Thursday night were the stars and producers of 97.1 The Ticket's Valenti and Foster Show. Mike Valenti, Terry Foster, Mike Sullivan and David "Hatchet Man" Hull were out on the town braving the cold Michigan winter.

"We're coming from a nice dinner and we're walking in downtown Royal Oak and we committed a crime that is apparently very, very serious. That crime is jaywalking," Valenti said.

Valenti said that after the group crossed the street a police cruiser did "a complete peel out" onto the curb with blaring lights before the officer who was driving the vehicle came "charging" up to the four men.

The officer then demanded to see the men's IDs before making "heinous accusations" that they were "flashing attitude."

"The four of us -- I'm going to say -- were accosted by the police," Valenti said on the show Friday afternoon. "Of all the things the four of us could possibly get ourselves in trouble for I never believed that the crime (that we did commit) could be met with such an over-the-top response by local authorities."

"This cop looked straight at Mike Valenti, points and says 'you're giving me attitude,'" Sullivan said. "I thought, 'Mike's gotta say something back to him' and you go 'attitude? I'm sorry, officer, I don't know what I was doing.'"

Valenti, saying that he practiced what he preaches, denied giving any sort of heated response to the officer.

"I've always said on the air that if you just do what the cops tell you to do you're going to get to go home," Valenti said. "My approach with the cops is singular -- 'yes, sir; no, sir; sorry, sir; okay, sir.'"

"I thought Mike was going to say something, because it was just so ridiculous," Sullivan said.

"The tone and the severity of the one cop was so serious and so angry and so on-the-edge, if anyone would have said anything -- forget about doing anything -- you would've been in the back of his cruiser," Valenti said. "I really believe that guy was intent on throwing somebody in that cruiser...for jaywalking."

"It was extremely over-the-top," Hull said. "My eyes were probably out of my head because I was wondering, 'is he serious?' and I almost voiced that, and I honestly thought about running, because I don't know if my life was in danger -- I had no idea what to do."

Valenti said that the second officer came out of the cruiser with a calm demeanor and explained that jaywalking laws are something that police are working harder to enforce.

Sullivan tweeted Friday that the Royal Oak police chief reviewed the incident and called to apologize.

One caller to the show, Nicole, claimed that she was working in a nearby store and saw the entire incident.

"They screamed, it scared the crap out of me. I thought you guys might have robbed a bank or something with the way that they were acting," Nicole said. "We were mortified. We were like, 'that was the most ridiculous thing we've ever seen.'"

The officers let the four men off with a warning.

"I'm a huge supporter of cops because I would never do their job," Valenti said. "But I don't understand that attitude. Jaywalking?"