The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Crash, resisting arrest keep police busy
By Edward Freundl, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 27, 2008
Child Protective Services was called to check on the welfare of four children ages 1-1/2 to 13 after police said both parents exhibited unstable psychological behavior.
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The situation started with a man being arrested for drunken driving and resisting arrest at 5:27 p.m. March 6.
At that time, Chelsea police responded to the entrance driveway of a business in the 18000 block of East Old US-12 for a green van crashed into the ditch.
According to a police report, the vehicle had sustained damage to the passenger-side front fender after running over a light pole in the entrance, and got stuck trying to get free.
A tow truck was trying to remove the vehicle when police arrived.
The driver, a 29-year-old Chelsea man, told police he had been talking on the phone to his wife's doctor when he drove into the ditch.
The officer noticed the odor of alcohol and asked the man if he had been drinking, and the man denied it.
The tow truck driver told police that he, too, smelled alcohol on the driver's breath, but the man lit a cigarette as soon as police arrived.
The officer asked the man again if he'd been drinking, and he said "one beer — a big one," between noon and 1 p.m. at a bar on West Old US-12, according to the report.
The officer asked the driver if he'd had anything to eat there and he said no; he asked a second time and the man said he had eaten jalapeno poppers.
The officer noticed the man's eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and with the evidence of the crash and the driver's admission of drinking, administered field sobriety tests.
He failed the tests and the officer was about to give a preliminary breath test (PBT) when the suspect's wife arrived in another vehicle.
A second officer told her to leave the scene, but she ignored him and drove over to the man, the report stated.
As the couple talked, the man clenched his fist and punched the passenger-side mirror, grazing the second officer.
When he pushed toward the open car window, both officers grabbed his arms.
The suspect became aggressive and resisted the officers as they pulled him away from the vehicle.
When he pushed back, the officers took him down to the ground and handcuffed him, the report stated.
When the PBT gave a result of .159 blood alcohol content, almost double the legal limit of .08 percent, the man was arrested for Operating While Intoxicated as well as for Resisting and Obstructing an Officer.
He was taken to the hospital for a blood draw to confirm the PBT, then transported to the police department.
The suspect told police he and his wife, age 30, had been arguing that morning and he hit her.
He also told police that he worked for DTE Energy, and mentioned several times "grabbing power lines so my kids could collect insurance money," according to the police report, and even asked if the officer ever had thoughts about "blowing his brains out."
The suspect's wife arrived at the police station to collect the man's wallet and speak to him.
She told him that she should go home and take " a couple bottles of clorazepam (prescription sedatives)," according to the report.
When the officer asked her about that, she said she was talking about "Starburst candies, not medication," and denied being assaulted that morning.
The officer informed jail personnel about the man's suicidal statements when they arrived.
When the couple refused to cooperate, the officer called Michigan State Police troopers to visit the home outside city limits to check on the children, two boys ages 13 and 7 and two girls ages 3 and 1-1/2.
The officer contacted Child Protective Services the following day to make a report on the psychological state of the parents, the report stated.
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