KENT COUNTY, Mich. -- Police are asking for help to find the suspect who led them on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle Thursday morning. Spike strips helped put an end to the chase, but they flattened one couple's company truck's tires.
“It’s just a couple popped tires to them, but to us it’s a hole in our business, it’s a hole in our life," said Elizabeth Brown with Bonoite's Handyman Services on Friday.
Thursday morning Brown and her boyfriend John Bonoite Sr. were caught between the police chase on U.S. 131 southbound near 10 Mile when the suspect sped past them.
"We saw sparks flying from [the suspect's] tires, you could hear the grinding of it on the road," she said.
"So we’d known his tires were already blown and we gave the cops enough time and space to get away from us before we started to go, just like the rest of the vehicles did."
Brown says they saw a police car parked with its lights off nearby but saw no officer. Then they drove slowly from the right shoulder when they hit the spike strip, flattening two of their work truck's tires.
"That officer could have easily pulled his flashlight out and shined to let us know, stop for a second, but he didn't," she said.
Kent County Sheriff Sgt. Joel Roon says Rockford Police covertly placed the spike strip and police in general keep lights off nearby to not give away their position. He says as soon as Brown called police, deputies inspected their truck and filed the county paperwork to reimburse Brown for the tire damage.
"I’m just worried what’s going to happen with boyfriend’s company because he’s tried so hard for the last year and he’s finally got it, and now he has no vehicles to transport his air compress," Brown said, "that’s a very heavy thing you can’t just put that in the back of an SUV."
As family help Brown and her boyfriend continue to make ends meet with his roofing business, she warns other drivers to keep an eye out.
"Just watch out for the roads because you never know what’s in the road," said Brown.
Roon says for future reference, if this ever happens to you, call 911 immediately so an officer can come and make a report.
Meanwhile, the suspect in the stolen vehicle ran away from police Thursday morning. If you have any additional information call Silent Observer: (616) 774-2345.
