Metro Detroit police chiefs want mandatory jail time for high-speed chase suspects
(CBS DETROIT) - Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer and other law enforcement agencies are calling on lawmakers to draft tougher penalties for high-speed chases.
"These pursuits are out of control in every city in the state," Dwyer said.
Dwyer said the city of Warren is experiencing roughly one high-speed chase per day this year so far.
The most recent incident was on Thursday when a Warren police officer attempted to make a traffic stop for speeding. The suspect rolled up his window and drove off down 8 Mile Road.
The chase continued south on Van Dyke down to I-94, where the suspect was eventually trapped after ramming into several vehicles, including police cruisers.
Dwyer said officers had to pull a husband and wife out of a pick-up truck that had been rammed into before another officer fired his weapon at the suspect, injuring him and ending the chase.
Dwyer said enough is enough, and the laws surrounding fleeing police need to be changed.
"It's got to be a mandatory law, and you can't keep reducing it to a misdemeanor when it's classified as a felony," Dwyer said.
Earlier this week, Selena Martin was arrested after a high-speed chase in Farmington Hills. Martin was clocked at speeds up to 120 miles per hour before ditching her vehicle and being caught.
Farmington Hills Police Chief Jeff King agreed that laws need to change.
"We're looking for some kind of higher penalty for when people, suspects, use their vehicles, in this case, endangering the public to flee from police," King said.
Dwyer is calling on lawmakers to implement tougher laws and require mandatory jail time.
"Two to three years, if you flee and elude a uniformed officer in a marked car," he said.