YPSILANTI, Mich. – A man who had recently been placed on probation for firearms charges used a gun in a Taco Bell drive-thru to get free pop, Washtenaw County officials said.
Eddie Lee Nailor, 31, is accused of possessing a firearm in a criminal complaint that was filed Jan. 20 and unsealed Feb. 1.
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Taco Bell worker reports gun
A 911 dispatcher received a call the night of Dec. 14 from the assistant manager of the Taco Bell at 2995 Washtenaw Avenue in Ypsilanti.
The assistant manager reported that one of his employees had been working the drive-thru window when he noticed her giving a customer a free pop. He asked her why she had done that, and she told him that she was “dealing with a man who had a gun in his vehicle.”
She said she had given the man pop because there was a gun in his lap and and an alcoholic beverage in the console while he completed his food order, according to court records.
“She was trying to ‘get him out of there by giving him whatever he wanted,’” the complaint reads.
The assistant manager told police that the silver Chevrolet Impala had left the restaurant about five minutes prior, heading west on Washteaw Avenue. He also provided the license plate number.
Washtenaw County officials issued a “be on the lookout” for the Impala at 11:02 p.m. Dec. 14.
Impala pulled over in Superior Township
Two Washtenaw County deputies said they saw the Impala at 11:37 p.m. Dec. 14 while patrolling in Superior Township. They pulled the car over inside an apartment complex in the 8800 block of Macarthur Boulevard.
Police said the driver of the Impala was later identified as Nailor, and there was a woman in the front passenger seat. Nailor was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt underneath a jacket, according to court records.
Deputies explained that the car had been pulled over because of the call from Taco Bell and asked Nailor if he had a gun. Nailor denied having a gun and was asked to step out of the car, according to authorities. He said, “I can’t do that,” and, “No,” the criminal complaint says.
The woman in the front seat began arguing with and yelling at the deputies, so they asked for identification, they said. Nailor and the woman both refused to provide their IDs.
After asking Nailor repeatedly to exit the car, one deputy ordered Nailor to do so, but he refused and continued to argue, officials said.
After about four minutes, backup Washtenaw County deputies arrived at the scene.
Gun found underneath seat
One of the deputies who showed up at 11:41 p.m. spoke with the woman in the passenger seat and saw her stuffing something into her pants, the criminal complaint says. She claimed she was grabbing her “weed.”
She was asked multiple times to step out of the car, and finally complied, police said.
Another deputy walked up to the car with his flashlight and saw a gun on the floorboard under the passenger’s seat, he said. The deputy yelled, “Gun,” and Nailor was forcefully removed from the driver’s seat, according to court records.
Nailor resisted arrest and was handcuffed while on the ground, police said.
“As Nailor was being placed into handcuffs, he stiffened his body out, cursed at the deputies, continued to argue, and did not willfully allow officers to place him into custody,” the criminal complaint reads.
The woman was also placed into handcuffs and detained because the gun was found in an “open and accessible location,” deputies said.
Woman interviewed
The woman was taken to the back of a patrol car and agreed to speak to a deputy. The deputy explained what had been reported by Taco Bell workers.
“(She) stated that she was confused and didn’t understand why the Taco Bell would call about them and that there was no altercation, and the employee even gave them a ‘free pop,’” the criminal complaint says.
The woman said she and Nailor had visited Taco Bell about 30 minutes prior. She confirmed Nailor had been driving and that nobody else had been in the car.
When the deputy asked if she had known anything about a gun being the car, the woman said, “No.” She said it was not her gun, but that she wasn’t blaming Nailor, either. She said Nailor had not handed her the gun.
“The deputy explained to (the woman) that the caller from the Taco Bell observed the gun on Nailor’s lap and asked (her) how the gun went from Nailor’s lap to underneath her seat,” the complaint says. “(She) replied, ‘I don’t know.’”
Car searched
After being placed in the back of a police car, Nailor was told that there was a gun in the car, but he refuted that detail, officials said.
Deputies told Nailor about the report from Taco Bell, and he questioned the report, according to authorities.
The handgun was recovered from the floorboard, court records show. Deputies said they found “a large amount of marijuana” in the console area and a Taco Bell bag on the floor across from the gun.
When deputies tried to question Nailor about the gun, he didn’t cooperate.
Nailor told police that he had an injured hand, so they said they agreed to lengthen the handcuffs on his way to jail. While in the back seat, he slipped the handcuffs underneath his legs from behind his back to bring his hands to the front of his body, authorities said.
Nailor was told he couldn’t move the handcuffs to the front of his body, and deputies asked him to go back to the original position, but he refused, they said.
Officials took Nailor to a medical facility to be treated for small cuts from the arrest. They then took him to the Washtenaw County Jail.
Taco Bell assistant manager interview
After Nailor’s arrest, the Taco Bell assistant manager who had called 911 was interviewed.
“The assistant manager explained to the deputies the reason for his call and reiterated that his employee was giving a customer free soda because the employee had observed the man holding a gun and had liquor in the car,” the criminal complaint says.
The assistant manager hadn’t seen the driver, but he said the man appeared to have been wearing a red hooded sweatshirt.
Deputies contacted the security company for Taco Bell and confirmed the Impala had gone through the drive-thru lane.
Gun was stolen in 2021
A special agent examined the gun from the Impala and determined it to be a Sig Sauer P229 pistol that had been stolen Dec. 18, 2021, in Detroit.
The owner of the gun had told Detroit police at the time that someone smashed through the back window of his parked vehicle and took the pistol from under his driver’s seat.
Officials said the serial number of the stolen Sig Sauer matched the serial number of the one found in the Impala.
The special agent said the gun was loaded with 12 rounds of 9 mm ammunition.
Previous criminal history
Nailor’s previous criminal history includes a no contest plea of armed robbery out of Washtenaw County on Feb. 14, 2013, according to the complaint.
He was sentenced to 3.5-20 years in prison and served five years.
On Sept. 28, 2022, Nailor pleaded guilty in Washtenaw County to carrying a concealed weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, and felon in possession of ammunition.
He was sentenced to two years of probation -- Sept. 28, 2022, to Sept. 28, 2024.
Charge
The criminal complaint concludes there’s probable cause that Nailor possessed a loaded and stolen gun while being prohibited from having a gun.
He is accused of felon in possession of a firearm.
Here is the full criminal complaint: