By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE — A man who was driving 70 mph in a construction zone with workers present on northbound Schaefer Road the afternoon of Jan. 23 refused to cooperate with police officers during a traffic stop and was later taken into custody after he was discovered to be a parole absconder with multiple arrest warrants.
The man, who had an unofficial license plate declaring him to be a sovereign citizen, did not have a driver’s license and his vehicle, a 1998 gold Cadillac Deville, which was later impounded, was uninsured.
The man initially refused to stop for the pursuing police officer, and ran a red light at Schaefer and Dix roads before eventually pulling into a parking lot at Schaefer Road and Oakwood Boulevard.
The man would not lower a window, would not turn off his car, refused to exit the vehicle and pretended to be unable to hear the police officer. He also moved his vehicle forward, leading the police officer to believe he planned to flee the scene.
Two other police officers arrived at the site as backup. The driver continued to ignore all instructions from the police officers, so they broke the driver’s side window to access the interior of the vehicle. One of the police officers cut his hand on the glass, requiring stitches and another police officer had a glass fragment lodged in her eye.
The man, who continued to defy orders, was electronically subdued. He was then handcuffed and taken to the Dearborn police station, where he was held.
The man had warrants for strangulation, aggravated armed robbery, fleeing and eluding police and for obstructing police. He had four active warrants from the Melvindale Police Department and from Ecorse, Harper Woods and Macomb County.