A man who escaped a group home on May 9 was arraigned on felony charges after allegedly punching an Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy who was looking for him. The officer eventually restrained the man by tasering him.
The 28-year-old Independence Township man, was arraigned in 52-2 District Court on May 10 on a charge of assaulting a police officer with injury. The charge is a four year felony, according to Lt. Dale LaBair of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department Independence substation.
Bond was set at $100,000 before Judge Kelley Kostin. The man next appears on May 19 at 8:30 a.m. before Kostin.
The alleged assault took place on Main Street near Waldon Road after a driver flagged down the deputy around 11:43 p.m. The motorist was from a group home on Wealthy Street looking for the man after he fled the home.
Driving up Main Street, the officer saw the man walking on the west side of the street and pulled over about 20 feet behind him.
As stated in reports, the man turned around and approached the patrol car spitting at the officer. The officer was struck by spit through his open window. The man yelled unintelligibly at the officer, who tried to roll up the patrol car’s window.
‘He actually charged the car. The deputy had the window open and (the suspect) started spitting at him and reached through the window punching the officer,? said Lt. LaBair.
Eventually, the officer was able to open the door and create distance between himself and the alleged assailant. According to reports, the officer pulled his taser while ordering the man to the ground. The suspect then allegedly yelled something else and charged the car. The officer deployed the taser on the man’s chest causing him to fall down and roll over on his stomach, leading to his arrest.
Following the incident, the officer was treated by the Independence Township Fire Department for injuries to his nose which was scratched and bleeding. He later drove to North Oakland Medical Center for treatment.
‘He’s back to work. Because of the scratch from a person with an unknown origin and history to us (he was checked out). It’s standard practice these days if you are injured in anyway where the skin is broken, we’ll have it cleaned and checked out,? said LaBair.
The same officer encountered the man earlier this month during a similar call, where the man left the group home.
‘The guys had contact with him on (May) 5th,? confirmed LaBair.
According to reports, the man climbed out the window of the group home triggering an alarm.
While on scene, dispatch received a call from a resident on Main Street reporting someone tried to break into her house. The woman was asleep when she woke up to yelling and banging. As stated in reports, she heard a male voice, but never got a look at the man.
Police discovered a broken glass candleholder and pieces of a wood chime on the porch. They also found a missing chair in the roadway bent backward to the point it could not open. Both screens on two front windows were moved upward about four to six inches.
Reports state the suspect fled from people from the group home who state in reports they saw him try to bust out the residence window with the chair, which he later threw at their vehicle prior to their flagging down police.