A driver in the Detroit area had an extremely close call on Friday as a black Dodge Challenger raced past him on the right side in excess of 100 mph. He caught the incident on his dash cam video. The police made an arrest, but the car they nabbed wasn’t the car that passed him. Do police in Allen Park, Michigan have the wrong man?
The Camaro5 forum user who goes by the handle of Mr. Sarge thinks they might. Mr. Sarge, who asked that his real name not be used in this story, shared with Jalopnik the dash cam video he recorded Friday afternoon on I-94 while leaving work in Dearborn.
It shows a newer black Challenger, most likely a Scat Pack, blasting through traffic with a black and white Allen Park Police Department Tahoe — a K-9 unit marked number 34 — in hot pursuit.
“It all happened very quickly and scared the shit out of me as he zoomed right by me at that speed,” Mr. Sarge said in an email. “I shifted over to the left a bit in my lane when I saw him coming from behind. I then saw the police come running after him a good 20 seconds or so behind.”
A few minutes later, traffic slowed down and he snapped photos of a black Challenger that had been pulled over by the same police Tahoe. Thinking the incident was kind of funny, Mr. Sarge posted it to the Camaro forum later Friday night.
But there, other users quickly pointed out that the Challenger that got pulled over was a different Challenger than the one police were pursuing in his dash cam video. The Challenger in the video was apparently a Scat Pack with dark wheels and the newer style taillights — the one that got pulled over was an R/T with silver stripes, chrome wheels, a silver gas cap and the older style taillights.
While it is possible that the R/T was pulled over for an unrelated charge — speeding, an outstanding warrant, or something similar — why would the exact same Tahoe break off pursuit of the Scat Pack to go after him? Also, while it’s admittedly possible that the two Challengers were racing one another and the officer was able to stop just one of them, no one, including the police, have mentioned racing thus far.
But like any concerned citizen, Mr. Sarge wanted to alert Allen Park Police that they may have the wrong man. He said he called Friday night and was told to try again on Saturday. When he did that, he said he was told to call back on Monday.
And when he did, he said police weren’t interested in his video.
Which comes to today Monday May 11, 2015. I called the officer and told him he caught the wrong person and I had visual dash cam and picture proof he caught the wrong person and was slightly aggressive with me saying, “No, I caught the right person!” I insisted on bringing my footage to them to see and he said he didn’t need it.
So I called again and spoke to the chief in charge and he said I would need to file a complaint in which an internal agent would be assigned and it would be reviewed.
When Jalopnik reached out to the Allen Park Police Department, an officer who answered the desk phone confirmed he had spoken to Mr. Sarge.
“He can make a citizens complaint and the chief will investigate,” the officer said, before transferring us to Det. Lt. Dave Williams, who sung a different tune.
“If (Mr. Sarge) believes he has something we should see, we want that,” Williams said. “If he does, I’ll review that and make sure this gets cleared up.”
Williams said he reviewed footage of the arrest for reckless driving last week but did not recall the exact details of what happened. He did not have immediately available information about that case.
As for Mr. Sarge’s claim that he was told police didn’t want the video: “That should not have happened,” Williams said. “They should take the information.”
After we made our calls to the police, Mr. Sarge said he spoke to Williams, and he’s taking the video to the detective tomorrow.
The name of the suspect arrested on Friday, and whether they are currently in custody or not, isn’t known at this time. Williams said that reckless driving is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
More on this story as we get it. If you have information about the case please email us at tips@jalopnik.com.
Video credit Mr. Sarge, edited by Michael Roselli
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.