Last week there was a brutal assault on a female police officer near Grand Rapids, Michigan. The suspect had stolen a cup of pop and was hanging around suspiciously at a McDonald’s. So the store manager called the police.
The officer who responded started to question the man when he just started beating on her. He apparently hit her more than a dozen times, stopping only when she was incapacitated and on the ground. He then ran off but was apprehended later.
So today he had his preliminary hearing which involved setting of bail. Now the defense obviously wanted a low bail amount and the prosecutor wanted a very high bail. So the prosecutor argued that he was a flight risk and pointed out that he had fled the scene of the crime.
At which point the suspect’s defense lawyer actually had the temerity to argue that since the incapacitated officer had never formally placed the suspect under arrest, that he was under no legal obligation to stay at the scene of the crime so the fact that he had ran from the McDonald’s was no indication at all whether he was a flight risk.
The judge didn’t buy it and set bail at several hundred thousand dollars.