DETROIT – A Lincoln Park was in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing for allegedly leaving the scene of a crash that killed eight-year veteran Detroit police officer Myron Jarrett.
Steven Patrick Guzina, 54, is charged with second-degree murder, operating while intoxicated causing death, operating while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, failure to stop at the scene of an accident when at fault resulting in death, reckless driving causing death and reckless driving causing serious impairment of body function.
Jarret was on duty Oct. 28 in the area of Monica Street and Puritan Avenue assisting officers with an investigation when he was fatally struck by a vehicle. Police say that driver was Guzina and that he fled the location on foot.
Two other Detroit police officers were involved in the wreck, but were not injured.
Jarret was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was due to multiple injuries. He was a father of four.
Police were able to identify Guzina because the van, which was still at the scene of the crash, was registered to him. Guzina was taken into custody shortly after at a bus stop at Grand River Avenue and Schaefer Highway.
Police said Guzina refused to take a breathalyzer test.
Before Guzina was located, officers went to his home in Lincoln Park, where a woman, believed to be his wife or ex-wife, answered the door. Sources say the woman told investigators that Guzina frequently visits the area of the hit-and-run while allegedly going on “crack cocaine benders.”
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