(WXYZ) — A 23-year-old Warren man is being held by Detroit Police after the suspect tried to engage officers in a high speed chase while he was live on Facebook.
The man had already outrun Macomb County Sheriff deputies and Warren police early Friday morning.
Deputies were first alerted to look out for the red pickup truck when the suspect pulled into a gas station and tried to light some spilled gasoline on fire with a lighter.
Deputies located the suspect and began to pursue him, but terminated the chase a short time later. We're told police in Warren gave chase but eventually called it off.
On his Facebook Live stream, the suspect then said, "We gonna head to Detroit because Macomb County police don't want to pull me over."
The suspect then sped past Detroit's 5th Precinct on Conner near Mack Avenue on the city's east side. That's where two officers, a 19-year veteran officer and a rookie, spotted the speeding pickup truck and went after it in an attempt to make a traffic stop.
But when they got to Jefferson near Eastlawn and it was clear the suspect was not going to slow down, Detroit Police say they stopped following the pickup.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said that's when the suspect made a U-turn and drove straight at officers.
The veteran police officer who was driving quickly began to turn their police vehicle to avoid a head-on collision. The suspect hit the police SUV on the front passenger fender area and kept going, but he didn't go far.
The suspect turned around again and drove up behind the officers he just ran into and the officers placed him under arrest. Both officers sustained knee injuries, said Chief Craig, who also praised the officers for how they handled the situation that could have ended tragically.
In 2017, the same suspect stole an ambulance from outside a hospital in Mount Clemens that had been left running. At that time, the man had already been on probation for assaulting a police officer.
The man pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, according to court records.
The man's listed address comes back to a group home in Warren.
He has several suspensions on his driving record but he does have a valid driver's license. State records show it was reinstated in August after he paid a fee.
