My question involves criminal law for the state of: My question involves criminal law for the state of: Virginia
My boyfriend and I got into an argument the other week during which he was trying to drive drunk....we had both been drinking that night so it was not the most calm of situations because we both had it in our head what we wanted to happen. A neighbor heard us and saw me trying to stop him from driving by trying to stand in front of his car which eventually led to me grabbing onto his hood when he moved forward....she then called the cops because she wasn't sure what was going on. My bf got out of the car to get me away from the front so he could leave and I was able to turn the car off and get the keys out of the ignition. I ran inside hoping that he would realize that this was not a good idea and he tried to pull the keys from me. During the struggle for the keys I was completely unaware of what happened, but he got the keys and left and I was bleeding from my head and my mouth. The cops then showed up and saw me bleeding and hysterical and obviously made assumptions as to what happened. At the time I kept telling them that I really didn't think I got injured because he hit me, but I wasn't sure exactly what happened. I was terrified at the time as I had a previous boyfriend who was abusive toward the end of our relationship and that's all that I was thinking about-during the combination of being drunk and scared apparently I had said that I wanted to move forward with charges...I don't really know what it means to press charges after all because I thought that was something I had control of the whole time and could drop when I wanted if I decided I no longer wanted to move forward with it. In the heat of the situation I didn't know what happened nor did I know what exactly I was doing as far as the police were concerned.
After a few hours all the paperwork I was provided with was an emergency protective order for 72 hours, so I didn't think that anything else was happening outside of that....in my mind when you pressed charges I would have had to actually go down to the police station and file information. I took some time off from work...spent a few days with my family and cleared my head after that incident...I realized in the days after that he absolutely did not hit me or assault me, but that the small cuts on my head and inside my lip were from hitting a doorknob and the edge of the railing while I was trying to keep the keys from him. After some time and a lot of apologies I decided that I would forgive him and I would stay with him. That it was bad decision making on both parts (mainly him) and that we could both learn from it and move forward. I received a call almost a month after the situation from a victim and witness program point of contact and she informed me that there was a warrant out for my boyfriend's arrest...this came as a complete shock to me as neither of us knew that was going on. I didn't realize that's what the police were moving forward with that night and absolutely did not want this to be happening. He also lives out of state, so the police did not go to seek him out regarding this warrant.
We both have ZERO criminal record outside of a DUI he got years ago when he was 21 and we have a relationship completely free from any kind of domestic violence situations. I have spoken to the detective assigned to my case and an unrelated police officer regarding the steps that we need to take. I have been told that my boyfriend will likely need to turn himself in and a warrant cannot just be pulled. I explained the story to the detective and he said he would talk to a few people and see what he could do, but he couldn't make any promises as to what would happen. Both my boyfriend and I are completely willing to be cooperative with whatever we need to do (i.e. turning himself in), but we are both completely in the dark and scared about this. I don't want him to be charged with assault as he did not assault me.....yes, the decisions he made were poor and there's no excuse for me getting hurt (which he didn't know I was hurt when he left), but he does not deserve to have an assault charge on his record. We know it was a horrible, very wrong situation that blew up into much more than it should have and we regret how things played out.
If anyone could provide any insight or help I would much appreciate it. I read that possibly taking anger management classes could show that he's willing to alleviate the situation on his own and that turning himself in would obviously make it clear he is willing to cooperate. We haven't talked to a lawyer yet, but understand that is a very good possibility we will need to get some legal representation for this. I know that I would have the opportunity to speak with the prosecutor, but they also have the right to move forward and ignore anything I currently have to say.
I know that there are people that believe he assaulted me; however this is 100% not the case in this situation...he is not a violent person and reacted poorly when he got scared that the neighbors were going to call the cops and he could get a DUI (again I know he chose to get in behind the wheel).

