12/24/11 Jackson Co., MI – Handcuffed Standoff Suspect Steals Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Patrol SUV – 75 Mile Chase – 100 MPH – Crash – Injuries

December 24, 2011

mlive.com

The 34-year-old Chelsea man who stole a police car and lead authorities on a three-county chase Friday afternoon is out of the hospital and back in Jackson County.

The man, whose name is not being released, was released from a Toledo-area hospital Saturday morning and transported to the Jackson County jail around 11:30 a.m., said sargeant Rich White of the Blackman-Leoni Township Department of Public Safety.

He remains lodged there until his arraignment, which is currently being sorted out since all government offices are closed for the Christmas holiday on Monday. White said prosecutor’s hope to have warrants signed by a judge on Monday.

The man is alleged to have stolen a Blackman-Leoni public safety patrol vehicle shortly after 3:30 p.m. Friday after he was arrested at the Colonial Inn motel, 6027 Ann Arbor Road, in Leoni Township. Officers located a stolen vehicle in the parking lot of the motel and located a man believed to be responsible in a second-story room, department deputy director Jon Johnston said Friday night.

The man then initiated a standoff with officers, even pointing a pellet gun at them through the window, before he was arrested and put in the back of the patrol car. He was able to finagle the handcuffs in front of him, slip through the protective screen that separates the front and rear of the vehicle and drive off with the patrol car.

Several different police departments, including several Michigan State Police detachments, chased the man through Jackson, Washtenaw and Monroe counties — reaching speeds well over 100 mph — before he crashed on U.S. 23 just north of the Ohio state line. Police say he suffered minor injuries and was transported to a Toledo-area hospital for evaluation after he suffered a seizure from alleged drug use.

In a post on the Blackman-Leoni public safety Facebook page, the department say it is investigating how the man was able to get through the protective screen and drive away with the patrol car.

“While this is embarrassing, we are glad that nobody was injured or killed,” the post reads.