WALKER, Mich — After months of car “takeovers,” where police say "hundreds" of cars meet up in one place to perform dangerous activities like burnouts, donuts, and drifting along with flaunting weapons, Kent County is cracking down even harder.
Caiden Meade was charged with fleeing from a police officer, a fourth-degree felony, after police said he fled from their sirens and lights after they broke up the meet-up.
Around 11:00 p.m. Saturday night, police broke up a Walker “takeover” at Alpine Avenue and Old Orchard Drive, where officials said they observed hundreds of cars doing donuts in the intersection and drifting in parking lots.
After most of the vehicles fled the scene when police activated their lights and sirens, the Walker Police Department attempted to stop two vehicles drifting and doing donuts in the Best Buy parking lot.
One of them, Meade and his Pontiac Firebird, fled across the parking lot after drifting one last time in front of police, court documents say. Officers put on their lights and sirens to stop the vehicle, but Meade once again fled after he flipped off an official, police said.
The plate on Meade’s Firebird connected him to the car. The next day, officials found him at his home working on the car, and court documents said Meade admitted to police he fled because he was nervous.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said Grand Rapids and the surrounding area, which has seen an increase of these “takeovers” in the past six months, does not shut down at night, putting anyone who comes across these events in danger.
“There are people coming home from work, whether it be third shift, or coming back from whatever it may be, just a night out at a restaurant, or something along those lines. And so anybody's out in the roads and the behavior they're engaging in, in terms of donuts and peeling out and doing this, basically, it's reckless driving,” Becker said. “It puts anybody at risk, including themselves. The people are actually participating in, they think it's fun. But there's instances around the country where people have been hurt and killed engage in the sort of behavior.”
Fleeing and eluding or a reckless driving charge carries license sanctions, ones that follow you until you no longer drive, Becker said.
Some people who participate in these events are young, like Meade. In Michigan, the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act allows for the dismissal of certain criminal offenses committed by “youthful offenders” between the ages of 18 and 26. But traffic offensives, like reckless driving and fleeing and eluding, are exempt.
Becker said a misconception about fleeing and eluding is that an offender must go at an egregious speed.
“We've charged fleeing, eludings where people are doing 30 miles an hour, but they're not stopping. Under Michigan law, if an officer gives you direction by light, siren, even, quite frankly, a physical action,” he said. “If they raise up their hand and tell you to stop, you need to stop under directional law enforcement. If you don't, you can be charged with fleeing and eluding.”
When being approached by an officer at an event like Saturday’s, Becker said a misdemeanor offense is better than a felony.
“You may face consequences for lesser charges, but to run from the police is just a bad idea, and once again, the heightened risk that what happens not just fleeing, but then, if there's an accident, if there's something that happens after you're running from the police, that causes a whole other larger implications, should something even worse happen?” he said. “So, it's just not a good idea to run from the police. Stop and deal with the consequences.”
If convicted, Meade faces two years in prison and/or $500, along with a year suspension on his license.