On March, 28, 2017, around 1:37 PM, two Kalamazoo Public Safety Officers observed a stolen vehicle being driven in the area of Burdick and Lake St. The officers and the stolen vehicle were driving in opposite directions. As the officers were turning around to stop the stolen vehicle, the vehicle drove at a high rate of speed north on Burdick St. The driver of the vehicle then lost control and crashed into a business in the 400 block of S Burdick. The officers were not able to get close enough to the stolen vehicle to turn on their emergency lights. When the vehicle crashed it severed a gas meter attached to the building. The driver of the stolen vehicle was an 18 year old male. The driver fled on foot after crashing and was captured after a brief foot pursuit in the 400 block of S Rose St.
Due to the gas leak Public Safety Fire Apparatus responded to the scene. The adjacent businesses were evacuated and the area was closed off to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic until the scene could be rendered safe.
The 18 year old suspect was arrested for hit and run, resisting and obstructing and possession of a stolen automobile.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety at 337-8994 or Silent Observer at 343-2100.
Authority: Lt Anthony Morgan
Date: March 28,2017
Address: 150 E. Crosstown Pkwy. Suite A, Kalamazoo, MI 49001
Contact: Captain Victor Leadbetter, Criminal Investigation Division, 337-8139
