SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Police in Southfield are releasing new video of a driver in a stolen SUV intentionally hitting a squad car.
The driver actually managed to get away but not for long.
“Southfield police officers were investigating a gray Dodge Durango with tinted windows. This vehicle, we later discovered, was stolen out of the city of Fenton, Michigan on July 4,” said Police Chief Elvin V. Barren.
Barren said his officers spotted the stolen SUV driving in Southfield at about 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 19. They tried to pull the vehicle over at the Sapphire Apartments on North Park Drive. That’s when 21-year-old Rayven Thomas Stephan Lamont Bibbs tried to get away with three other people inside.
“Inside the vehicle was an AK-47 assault rifle with magazine, two masks, gloves, screwdrivers, and also multiple stolen plates out of states such as Texas, Ohio and North Carolina,” Barren said.
Police surrounded the Durango, demanding the driver to get out.
A Local 4 viewer attending a church service nearby recorded video of the scene. It showed the mass police presence. Six minutes later, the driver finally exits the vehicle.
“The Oakland County prosecutor has charged him with the following charges: felonious assault on a police officer, receiving and concealing stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon, malicious destruction of property, police property times two, fleeing and eluding, felon in possession, resisting and obstruction and driving while license suspended,” Barren said.
The other people in the car finally get out as well, but Barren said he believes the incident is bigger than just Southfield.
“We have reason to believe that this thing is even larger, maybe national,” he said.
Barren said the suspect has a long criminal history. A judge issued him a $500,000 bond. The other passengers in the car weren’t charged.
More: Oakland County news