ANN ARBOR – A severe ice storm hit Southeast Michigan on Wednesday, causing extensive tree damage and power outages.
Ann Arbor was hit particularly hard, and recorded the highest ice totals in Metro Detroit.
At approximately 8 p.m. on Wednesday in the middle of the storm, Ann Arbor police officer Howard Cooper was trying to remove a large tree that had blocked the road at the intersection of Devonshire and Londonderry in the Arbor Hills neighborhood.
As Cooper tells it, a van pulled up and a driver exited the vehicle. To his surprise, it was University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh, who said “How about we try to move this tree together?”
Officer Cooper loaned Harbaugh a pair of work gloves and they worked together to clear the tree.
The two moved the tree inch by inch for about ten minutes and were able to get the entire tree moved out of a lane to allow cars to pass through.
“We thank Coach Harbaugh for being a valued member of the Ann Arbor community and helping out Officer Cooper,” AAPD said in a statement.