The getaway van was loaded with marijuana plants.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – A fleeing felon led police on a high-speed chase though five cities early the morning of Aug. 2, hitting multiple vehicles before crashing a van full of marijuana plants.
Edgar Ismael Lebron, 28, of Detroit was arraigned Aug. 4 in front of 27th District Court Judge Elizabeth DiSanto, where he was remanded without bond.
Lebron was charged with three felonies: assault with a dangerous weapon, fleeing and eluding, and breaking and entering, with misdemeanor receiving and concealing stolen property, and with a third offense notice as a habitual offender.
The saga began in a Wyandotte alley at 4:55 a.m. Aug. 2, in the 900 block of Maple Street, where a police officer disrupted a burglary-in-progress.
One suspect was ordered to the ground while the police officer waited for backup, but when a second man – Lebron – emerged from the nearby garage which the two allegedly broke into, he ignored the police officer’s commands, jumped into the waiting van, and took off.
Seizing the opportunity, the first suspect took off on foot, and is still at large.
Edgar Ismael Lebron
Lebron, now driving the van, accelerated down the alley, crashing into a marked patrol car, then continuing to flee.
The high-speed chase, which began in Wyandotte, continued through Ecorse, River Rouge and Detroit, before terminating in Dearborn.
During the pursuit, Lebron crashed into an unoccupied vehicle on Springwells Street in Detroit, and when an officer tried to get to him, to pull him from the getaway vehicle, Lebron disentangled the van from the vehicle it struck, and accelerated forward, almost striking the advancing police officer.
The chase finally ended in Dearborn, when Lebron crashed into a tree, and the van came to rest in the parking lot of a Dearborn bakery.
Even then, Lebron put the van into reverse and deliberately struck a police vehicle in an unsuccessful attempt to escape.
He was removed from the van, arrested and taken into custody.
A substantial number of marijuana plants were found inside the van.