PONTIAC, Mich. – Jurors in suburban Detroit have heard closing arguments in a criminal case connected to the death of a Michigan State Police trooper who was struck and dragged for miles while riding a motorcycle.
Charles Warren Jr. declined to testify Tuesday.
Warren, of Waterford, is accused of hitting Wolf and dragging him under a trailer for miles Aug. 28, 2015 on Interstate 75 while Wolf was on patrol with his department-issued motorcycle.
Chad Wolf, 38, died hours after. He had been a trooper since 2008. He left behind a wife and four children.
Warren, who was 69 at the time, was arrested weeks later and charged with reckless driving causing death and failure to stop at the scene of an accident, both felony counts. If convicted, Warren faces a maximum of 15 years in prison on each count. He was released on a $100,000 bond.
The state rested its case against Warren this past Thursday.
Defense attorney Neil Rockind told jurors that it's a "horrible tragedy" but not a crime. The prosecutor says Warren made a series of bad choices.
What happened
Wolf was struck by a car towing a trailer about 6:30 a.m. that morning when he was crossing I-75 on Dixie Highway in Springfield Township. The collision threw the trooper off his bike and trapped him under the trailer. was dragged for several miles under the trailer. The driver didn't stop until the next rest area, which was 4.3 miles down the highway.
"It appears that he was cut off by another vehicle. That's the individual that we're discussing with right now," said Lt. Michael Shaw at the time. "The thing that's different about this particular crash is the size of the actual scene. We have to start from the very beginning to go through and find bits and pieces of evidence as we work our way through."
About 3,500 people gathered Sept. 1, 2015 for Wolf's funeral at Fenton High School.
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