7/21/21 Bay City, MI – Suspended License Arrest – Man In Handcuffs – Gets Cuffs In Front And Steals Michigan State Police SUV – Suspect Abandoned State Police Car – Suspect Escaped – Found Two Days Later

July 21, 2021

www.mlive.com

A 22-year-old Bay City man is accused of escaping police custody and stealing a Michigan State Police patrol vehicle.

The night of July 12, an MSP trooper was on patrol in a 2017 Ford EXP SUV when he pulled over a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu with an invalid license plate driving in the area of Cass Avenue and Fraser Street in Bay City. The driver identified himself as Rockyon A. Poole. Riding in the vehicle as passengers were a 19-year-old woman and 24-year-old Quinston J. Koster. the latter of whom owned the Malibu, according to police reports contained in court files.

Poole’s driver’s license was suspended at the time, something Koster told the trooper he knew.

The trooper handcuffed Poole’s wrists behind his back and set him in the patrol vehicle’s backseat. The trooper then conducted a search of the Malibu with Koster’s permission, reports state.

The trooper found multiple glass pipes with burned Chore Boys in them, he wrote in his report. The makeshift device is often used to smoke crack cocaine.

As the trooper continued searching the Malibu, the patrol vehicle’s camera caught Poole trying to conceal an object. He then managed to manipulate his handcuffs in front of himself by stepping through them, reports state.

Poole then climbed into the driver’s seat, put the vehicle in drive, and drove off. The Ford came within a foot of striking the trooper, he wrote, adding that he believed such was an attempt on Poole’s part to strike him.

Poole left his two friends behind as he did this, reports indicate.

Poole drove the MSP vehicle north on Fraser to 33rd Street, where he turned east. He then continued onto Jackson Street and turned north before stopping the vehicle, exiting it, and running east, reports state.

The trooper caught up the vehicle and found it had sustained no damage and no items were missing from it.

A police K9 unit responded to the scene, but troopers were unable to locate Poole. Troopers lodged Koster in the Bay County Jail and released the woman passenger. Koster was later charged with one count of allowing a person without a valid driver’s license to operate a motor vehicle.

Two days later at about 6:15 p.m., a Bay City police officer spotted Poole riding a bicycle near the Golson Boat Launch at 1598 N. Johnson St. Poole fled toward Independence Bridge and refused to heed the officer’s orders to stop, reports state.

The officer ended up shoving Poole as he tried pedaling around him. Both fell to the ground, with the officer breaking his fall with his left hand.

As the officer grappled with Poole to place him in handcuffs, a civilian bystander approached and helped the officer restrain Poole.

The officer arrested Poole and searched him, finding a glass pipe with a Chore Boy on him and a knife in his waistband.

The officer later experienced a sharp pain in his left index finger and went to an area hospital. He learned he had sprained his finger and suffered soft tissue damage, but was cleared to return to duty, reports state.

Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer on Thursday, July 15, arraigned Poole on single counts of unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle, assault with a dangerous weapon, driving with improper plates, and driving on a suspended license, and four counts of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police. Of the last four counts, one specifies the assault caused an injury to the involved officer.

Janer set Poole’s bond at $100,000 cash-surety.

Poole was on bond at the time and awaiting sentencing on a conviction of entering without permission, a charge he had pleaded no contest to on June 28.

In June 2018, a Bay County judge sentenced Poole to two years of probation under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, or HYTA, on a felony conviction of larceny from a person. The act allows a judge to place a defendant between the ages of 17 and 24 in jail or on probation without a conviction. If the defendant successfully completes the terms of the judge’s sentence, he or she avoids having a criminal record.

Alas, Poole was unsuccessful with his HYTA status and the Michigan Department of Corrections discharged him from probation in October 2019.

Poole is to appear for a preliminary examination at 4 p.m. on July 29.