WYANDOTTE, Mich. – The Wyandotte Police Department is advocating for a state bill that would increase the penalties for fleeing and eluding following a high-speed police chase spanning multiple cities on Monday.
The chase ended when Wyandotte officers used a Grappler device to stop the fleeing driver.
Police said the driver has a lengthy criminal record, including multiple felony convictions for armed robbery, killing and torturing animals, and fleeing and eluding.
In a Facebook post about the incident, the Wyandotte Police Department said the chase was called off by two other agencies before the driver reached Wyandotte.
Wyandotte police Chief Archie Hamilton said high-speed pursuits have become far more common over the past decade.
“When I was a younger police officer, we would experience perhaps four or five high-speed pursuits in a year. There’s weekends where we get four to five high-speed pursuits now. It has increased more than 500% over the last decade,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said some suspects run because they believe the risk is worth it, and because penalties for fleeing can be less severe than the crime they’re trying to avoid.
He said now that more departments have enacted chase policies restricting when officers can pursue a suspect, many will flee knowing there’s a chance the chase could be called off.
“Let’s just say they’re drunk, so it’s drunk driving. Drunk driving is harsher, the penalty is harsher for drunk driving than it is for fleeing and elude so why not take a chance?” Hamilton said.
Hamilton is advocating for House Bill 4690, which would require mandatory jail time for fleeing and eluding.
State Rep. Rylee Linting, who introduced the bill, said it would use a tier system with minimum sentences based on the severity of the incident.
“It ranges from a fourth degree, which is just simply disregarding law enforcement and fleeing, to first degree, which includes someone being killed in the accident,” Linting said.
The bill passed through the Michigan House in October but has since stalled in the Senate.
Advocates like Hamilton are hoping the bill will gain support from state senators.
Under the proposal, fourth-degree fleeing and eluding would carry a minimum sentence of 30 days in jail.
The minimum would increase to one year for third-degree, two years for second-degree, and five years for first-degree cases.
The bill has drawn criticism from some lawmakers.
State Rep. Donavan McKinney, who spoke against the bill when it was being voted on in the House, argues mandatory minimums can limit judicial discretion and disproportionately impact minorities.
McKinney provided a statement to Local 4 regarding his decision to oppose the bill.
“I spoke on the floor against this bill before its passage in the House last year. I shared that this bill was unnecessary, did nothing to address the root cause of the problem, and will continue to drive a wedge between bridging the gap in the relationship of the community and police.
Now that the bill is in the consideration of the Senate, my feelings have not changed. I still cannot support it because I believe that there are unintended consequences to this bill.
Data has proven that mandatory minimums have long been shown to undermine judicial discretion and lead to unjust outcomes.
This package reinforces the harmful belief that harsher penalties are the only path to accountability. And in reality, that simply isn’t true.
When Black people are pulled over by the police, often times our hearts start beating faster, anxiety levels rise, and we then reflect on all the trauma and police brutality we have seen, witnessed, and/or read about.
Just like that officer who wants to make it back home safely to their family after every shift, similarly that Black person or group of Black people who just got pulled over also want to make it back home safely to their families as well."
State Rep. Donavan McKinney
Supporters of the bill say the goal is simple: prevent dangerous pursuits and protect the public.
“If there’s no associated jail time or no real consequence beyond that, there’s really nothing holding these people accountable and keeping them off the streets and putting people’s lives in danger,” Linting said.