ROSEVILLE, Mich. - A Roseville man took to Facebook to insult an officer who gave him a ticket for warming up his car in his own driveway.

"Every person warms up their car," Nick Taylor said. "We live in Michigan!"

Roseville police phones have been lighting up with calls from people who are furious that Taylor was given a ticket for warming up his car.

"I was furious when I saw it," Taylor said.

Taylor said he started his car Tuesday morning to warm it up and went inside for 5 minutes. When he went back outside, he had received a ticket that said "motor vehicle unattended."

"Vehicle parked in drive with keys in ignition, motor running -- no one around," the Roseville officer wrote on the ticket.

The officer didn't knock on the door to inform Taylor of the problem.

"That would have been respectful," Taylor said. "I had no clue that this was a law, an ordinance."

Police said the key component of the case is whether the key is in the car. Using a remote starter is OK because the key isn't in the car. If the key is in the car, it's a state and local violation, because somebody could take off in the car.

"You're putting the public at risk," Roseville police Chief James Berlin said. "This is purely a public safety issue."

Taylor posted a picture of the ticket on his Facebook page and called the officer an insulting name. It's been shared more than 6,000 times and there are more than 5,000 comments.

Berlin said he's not tearing up the ticket. He's angry about the name calling.

"You see the disparaging comments he made about my officer?" Berlin said. "Drop dead."

Taylor said he didn't mean to call the officer a name, but he doesn't want the ticket.

"Unattended car?" Taylor said. "I’ve done this every day for seven years. Every person warms up their car. We live in Michigan."

Taylor is scheduled to appear in court later this month.

Poster Comment:

Comment from Michigan resident:

They have no jurisdiction, on your own property. Your personal car, is NOT a 'motor vehicle'. Older cars need more warmup, newer vehicles have computer optimized cooling systems-via CFD. The function of government/police is protect individual rights, not a nebulous derivative called "public safety"