Michigan man charged with killing mother of two during Warren police chase
WARREN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A Pontiac man is charged with killing a mother of two kids during a police chase in Warren.
James Hudson, 26, is facing second-degree murder along with several counts of fleeing and eluding and reckless driving.
Just after 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, Warren police spotted three Dodge Chargers zipping along Eight Mile Road near Ryan Road at speeds of well over 100 miles an hour.
"It is basically a 5,000-pound bullet driving down Eight Mile," said Charles Rushton, the interim Warren police commissioner.
When officers tried to pull them over, one driver stopped, and two others, including Hudson, didn't.
"When we make these decisions, whether we're going to pursue or not, we have to take that stuff into consideration–one of the things we take into consideration is, are these people likely to slow down? Bail out of the car? Are they going to continue driving in a reckless manner? In this case, I think it was quite obvious that they were driving recklessly before we had encountered them, they were probably going to continue to drive recklessly," Rushton said.
About three minutes into the chase, police say Hudson slammed into a Jeep near 10 Mile and Dequindre roads.
The violent impact killed the Jeep's passenger, 42-year-old Katrina Michael, who worked as a receptionist for Samaritas in Troy to provide for her two kids.
The nonprofit donated $10,000 to a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the cost of the funeral.
This is the third deadly pursuit in the city of Warren so far this year.
While officers deployed remote control sticks during Saturday's chase, CBS News Detroit asked if the department has considered investing in other tools, like the StarChase system, which shoots a GPS tracker onto a suspect's vehicle, or the Grappler, which lassoes a suspect's tires.
Rushton said the department has looked into those options but doesn't believe it would have made a difference on Saturday.
"At this point, my feeling is it leads to more danger, more likely there is a collision, and it would be an unplanned collision between a police car and a suspect," Rushton said.
In this case, the suspect remains behind bars on a $1 million cash-only bond following his arraignment Tuesday, where he entered a not-guilty plea.
"It's a darn shame that we have to lose life, that we have to lose limb over something so senseless of what it is that that vehicle is supposed to be used for," said Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido.