Charges could come soon in February’s high-speed chase throughout county

Hamburg Township Police Chief Richard Duffany said he is expecting to file charges with the Livingston County Prosecutor’s Office soon against the driver who eluded various county law enforcement agencies during last month’s wild, high-speed chase from Brighton to Pinckney to Fowlerville to Howell.

Duffany is waiting on the results of search warrants that were executed after the Friday, Feb. 9, chase that started with a City of Brighton Police Department officer attempting to stop a Volkswagen Jetta with two males inside for an unknown traffic violation in the area of Challis Road and Brighton Interior. Rather than stopping, the driver accelerated to elude the officer, who ended the pursuit shortly after it began.

Five minutes later, a Hamburg Township police officer saw the car heading south on Chilson Road near Bishop Lake Road at a high rate of speed. The officer tried to stop the Jetta using his emergency lights and siren, but it kept going on Chilson Road; when it neared Winans Lake Road, a second Hamburg officer attempted a PIT maneuver, but the driver eluded him and continued south until he turned west onto Swarthout Road.

The chase continued west on Swarthout Road and then south on D-19 into the Village of Pinckney. Officers terminated the pursuit as the Jetta headed north on Hinchey Road in Putnam Township at speeds well in excess of 100 mph. A short time later, a Fowlerville Police Department officer spotted the Jetta driving recklessly in the area of Fowlerville Road and I-96, where a deputy from the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the pursuit. The Jetta exited I-96 at D-19 and headed north on Michigan Avenue into the City of Howell, where officers lost sight of it.

A short time later, officers with the Howell Police Department found the Jetta abandoned in a parking lot in the area of Grand River Avenue and National Street. An extensive search for the two suspects, which included the use of the Fowlerville PD’s K-9 unit, was unsuccessful.

The two men in the Jetta were subsequently identified; they both have outstanding warrants from prior cases.

 

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