Sterling Heights Police Chase Ends in Violent Crash

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The dashcam video of a police chase in Sterling Heights started as a routine traffic stop, but ended in a crash.

“We never like to see police pursuits, but it’s part of police work,” Lt. James Belmonte said. “We had highly trained officers behind the wheel, and they did everything right.”

Belmonte said police began chasing a man in his early 60s just before midnight Tuesday eastbound on 15 Mile Road near Van Dyke Avenue. The man has had run-ins with police for nearly two years.

“He’s been on our radar,” Belmonte said. “I remember coming into contact with him when I was on the road ... I’d say (he's) a nuisance.”

The driver was in a silver 1997 Mercedes. Police first thought the car looked suspicious when it parked in the at a Super 8 Motel on Van Dyke Avenue near 15 Mile Road. But it’s what the driver did next that lead to the chase.

“He cut through private property to avoid turning at the light and that’s a traffic violation itself, that’s when the two patrol officers attempted to pull him over and he fled,” Belmonte said.

According to the police report, the driver was going more than 80 mph. Once the chase approached Hayes Road, 2 miles away, the driver flipped the car around and started speeding west.

“That’s when he lost control and clipped the side of a semitruck and crashed,” Belmonte said. “He’s lucky to be alive.”

The driver is hospitalized with a broken collarbone, broken arm and broken ribs. He is expected to be arraigned on fleeing and eluding charges, and for not having a license, when he is released from the hospital. He also has a misdemeanor warrant in another city.