WYANDOTTE, Mich. – An undercover operation leads to one man being arrested after he allegedly sold drugs to an officer.
The pursuit in Wyandotte came to an end when a Dodge Charger flipped over in a 71-year-old man’s front yard.
Fortunately, Jim Garwolinski, a retiree, was inside his home rather than his normal hangout spot on the front steps at the time of the incident.
“I went in the house, went to the icebox and sat down. It went ‘Bam.’ I open up the door and see the car flipped over. I see all these police here,” Garwolinski said.
The chase stemmed from an undercover operation to take one man down.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), he actually delivered a substantial amount of crack cocaine to an undercover officer,” said Deputy Chief Archie Hamilton with the Wyandotte Police Department.
When officers surrounded the black Dodge Charger, the driver attempted to flee. An officer opened the door and tried to get inside to stop the driver from accelerating forward.
“He came dangerously close to crushing the officer. At some point, the officer was launched out the vehicle. Officer was thrown more than 20 feet on the pavement. He suffered extensive injuries,” Hamilton said.
The driver took off with officers closely behind as he hit another vehicle and crashed into Garwolinski’s home. The driver then fled on foot, leading to him being tased.
He had a GPS tether on the whole time.
“He already had three prior convictions from fleeing from the police. Yet he’s not in prison, he’s on a roll and he’s fleeing again for the fourth time,” Hamilton said.
Garwolinski said he is thankful he’s alive to tell the story. Recent knee surgeries would have kept him from getting out of the way of impact, even if he saw it all coming.
“My son came by and he said ‘Dad, you’re lucky, because look where you sit.’ It would’ve killed me,” he said.
READ: More local news coverage