By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK — A 19-year-old Detroit man who had just bought a used minibike the afternoon of March 8 led a police officer on a dangerous chase before losing control, wiping out and being taken into custody.
A police officer, who first saw the man on the minibike in the 9100 block of Allen Road, watched as he crossed all four lanes of traffic, interfering with traffic flow, before he went north on the sidewalk parallel to Allen Road. When the police officer activated his emergency lights and initiated a traffic stop near Allen Road and Leslie Avenue, the minibike rider took off and crossed all four lanes of traffic on Allen Road again.
When the police officer pursued him, he crossed Allen Road a third time, then started evading the officer in an adjacent neighborhood, traveling on Englewood and Quandt avenues, and on sidewalks, at about 30 mph, while trying to evade the police officer. The man then turned onto Champaign, first eastbound, then westbound.
The minibike rider lost control on a front lawn and sidewalk in the 150 block of Champaign Road, then tried unsuccessfully to flee on foot.
When asked why he ran from the police officer, the man, who had not acquired a driver’s license, said he had just moved to Detroit from Mississippi, and that he “saw on the news that police were shooting people on minibikes and ATVs.”
The minibike, which had no vehicle identification number, and which was in poor condition, was impounded. The man was taken to the police station, where he was booked, processed and lodged. A Michigan State Police DNA kit was completed.
Fire Department medics were called to treat his minor scrapes from his fall when he wiped out while on the minibike.
He was charged with felony fleeing and eluding with misdemeanor obstructing police, and with operating without a driver’s license.