Dearborn Police, Dearborn Heights Police and Michigan State Police are all on the scene of a shooting that left a man dead on M-39 near Outer Drive within the last hour. Shots were reportedly fired after the suspect was involved in a high-speed chase and crash involving Dearborn Heights Police. Officials have closed the southbound lanes of the Southfield Freeway and one officer was taken to the hospital, apparently in good condition.
Updates and further details on this developing situation can be found here.
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If interested the latest I found on this story is linked.
ReplyDeleteA drunk driver originating in Inkster (Carlyle and John Daly) created this whole mess. The drunk in the Jeep tried to run over a Dearborn Heights officer on the service drive.
My only hopes are that the officer involved is going to be fine and that he didn't strain his trigger finger too badly.
You guys are quick!
ReplyDeleteInkster stopped the chase because they still had kids going to school, what about Dearborn Heights and Dearborn?
ReplyDeleteWhat about them?
ReplyDelete"Dearborn Heights officers spotted the green Jeep near Pelham and Van Born, Seipenko said. After following the suspect east on Van Born, the chase ended up on the service drive."
Doesn't seem all that high risk to me.
Happy to see all the officers from Dearborn and other departments were not killed or injured. Sad to see another human being die but he had many opportunities to stop. But he chose to risk others lives and by attempting to run over a police officer at high speed the suspect was about to seriously injure or kill a police officer who shot him dead. Can't say most all wouldn't have done the same under the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Inkster cops dropped the ball on this and left it to neighboring cities to deal with. Par for the course, I would guess.
ReplyDeleteWell put, Michael.
ReplyDeleteTough call about chasing him during school hours. I can see valid points to be made from both perspectives, to chase vs. not to chase. However, I disagree with those commenting on the Freep article's site questioning the split-second decisions and reactions made by Dearborn's finest. Kudos to them for preventing a bad situation from escalating.
You guys are priceless.
ReplyDeleteSure appears like yet another saint has graced Dearborn and faced injustice.
"They did not have to kill my brother. He had a family that loved him," said Thomas' sister, Kawana Thomas. "We are hurting. (The police officer's family) has him to hold. We don't."
The incident began around 8 a.m., when Inkster police got a 911 call about a drunken driver in a residential area near Carlyle and John Daly. Dearborn Heights police took over when the green Jeep Liberty entered their jurisdiction.
It was when they exited their squad cars to take Thomas, 48, into custody that he snapped, Seipenko said.
First, he rammed the car behind his Jeep and then accelerated forward, striking the other, police said. Then he began steering toward the officer, who fired four shots, police said.
Thomas' family members said they were horrified by the incident, saying he didn't drink or smoke and stayed out of trouble. They said Friday morning started like any other, with Thomas dropping his wife off at a neighborhood group home for work. He was supposed to pick her up later, but never returned. "Whatever he'd done, he shouldn't be dead. He didn't bother nobody," Mack Hollis, 68, said of his younger brother. "He wasn't a robber or a thief or anything like that."
No, Willie Alan Thomas was just a probationer for armed robbery, operating with suspended license, felonious assault with dangerous weapon and third degree fleeing a Police Officer.
Still smell the lawsuit?
Dearborn police didn't shoot him. Heights police shot him and yes the dead criminal is just another poor victim of overbearing police officers that should have let him run them over and possibly kill them.
ReplyDeleteWe can be sure there will be many greedy lawyers who will take this case of injustice on and make millions from innocent, law-abiding Heights taxpayers. This will line the lawyers pockets and the pockets of the dead criminals family who thought he was a saint.
After all the life of a criminal who instigated this entire incident and is a supposed saint is far more important than those bad police officers. Financial help for this supposed saints family is far more important than the lives and financial stability of a police officer and their family.
Let's just hope this doesn't end up as another episode of the Twilight Zone as so many sadly seem to do these days.
Perhaps we should click on the name 'Willie Alan Thomas' listed at the top of the story 2 stories above and see what it lists about Mr. Thomases criminal record. While many might rightfully feel empathy for his family as I do, it might also explain why Dearborn Heights officers had little to any other option but to protect their own lives by ending his life. It might be sad to say but we are much safer now that he's gone.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't want to go back to the joint, gambled by endangering civilians and law enforcement and lost. No sympathy from me for those choosing a long history of crime and yes, we all are much safer now.
ReplyDeleteEnd of story.
Amen!
This is exactly what I expect from racist, rednecks from Dearborn. A criminal record doesn't deserve the death penalty. Dearborn Heights Police just made Willie's family millionaires and it'll come out of your pocket!
ReplyDeleteThe crimial had the choice to choose life over death by not attempting to murder the officers with his vehicle. He made the reckless wrong choice and it ended up him causing his own death.
ReplyDeleteAs terrible as it may seem should an unjust jury choose to award his family anything, it is far better for all the rest of us that those officers are still alive and I'm sure the officers loved ones would also agree.
cant believe my uncle is gone that officer lucky he doesnt
ReplyDeletesmh to bad the dearborn police officers are getn old they gone die soon
ReplyDelete