Cop arrested after chase, standoff
Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)
April 21, 2002
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OTTAWA COUNTY -- A high-speed chase that began on U.S. 31 in Ottawa County ended early Saturday at a Lakeside home with a Muskegon police officer being arrested and facing several criminal charges.
The arrest of Sgt. Chad Fellows has left the police department stunned.
"The thing we don't know is what led up to all this," said Muskegon Police Chief Tony Kleibecker, who took his own officer into custody about 3:15 a.m.
Authorities said Fellows had been drinking at a Spring Lake area establishment before he led Spring Lake/Ferrysburg and Norton Shores officers on a chase where speeds reached 100 to 120 mph.
"There was very, very little traffic," said Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Officer Joe Steinhauer. "It think I saw two cars during the entire chase. We were lucky."
The fleeing officer abandoned his car a few blocks from his Lakeside home and then ran inside. By that time, officers knew the fleeing suspect was one of their own.
Fellows' home was surrounded and the police chief was contacted.
After lengthy and sometimes tense phone negotiations, Kleibecker and other officers coaxed him to the doorway of the home's tiny front porch, where they were able to grab him. There was a brief struggle, and Fellows was turned over to Ottawa County authorities. No one was injured.
"We were fairly confident he was not armed," Kleibecker said. "A weapon was never mentioned in conversation, nor was there any threat involving a weapon. Our whole conversation had been basically that he was not going to come out."
Fellows now faces criminal charges in Ottawa and Muskegon counties. Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said his office has authorized warrants charging Fellows with fleeing and eluding in a residential neighborhood, a felony, and with resisting and obstructing police, a high-court misdemeanor.
In Ottawa County, the officer is expected to be charged with drunken driving and fleeing and eluding, according to police. Fellows was initially lodged in the Ottawa County Jail. On Saturday afternoon he was transferred to the Muskegon County Jail.
The officer has been placed on administrative leave from the police department, pending the outcome of an investigation into the incident, Kleibecker said.
"When you have something like this happen, it's a difficult situation. We have to deal with it and we have to be open about it," Kleibecker said.
"Certainly, as police officers, we're held to a standard of conduct," the chief said. "We're expected to uphold the law. Even when we're off duty, we are expected to be above reproach. I think people look to us as role models. It's part of the job."
Arrested officer who led cops on chase free on bond
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
April 22, 2002
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A Muskegon police officer arrested early Saturday after a high-speed chase in Ottawa and Muskegon counties has now bonded out of jail, according to court records.
Sgt. Chad Fellows posted a $20,000 surety bond Sunday at the Muskegon County Jail and was released on the condition that he be examined by officials at Community Mental Health Services of Muskegon County. He also posted $5,000 bond in the Ottawa County case.
As of this morning, no dates had been set for arraignments in either county.
In Muskegon County, Fellows is charged with felony fleeing and eluding in a residential neighborhood and with resisting and obstructing police, a high-court misdemeanor.
Court records in Ottawa County list charges of felony fleeing and eluding and operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said he would be consulting today with Ottawa County Prosecutor Ronald Frantz about the overall charges relating to the incident. “I’ll also be meeting with the (Muskegon) chief of police about the extent of their internal investigation,” he said.
About 1:37 a.m. Saturday, Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Police Officer Joe Steinhauer was traveling north on U.S. 31 as part of a special patrol targeting drunken drivers. He was near Taft Road when he noticed a car coming up behind him at high speed.
Steinhauer said the car passed him at more than 100 mph. A chase ensued, with speeds reaching as great as 120 mph, according to police. The driver abandoned the vehicle near his home on Morton Avenue in Muskegon’s Lakeside neighborhood and ran into his house. After more than an hour of telephone negotiations, the officer was grabbed as he stood by the doorway of his front porch.
Arrested cop may have grabbed for gun
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
April 23, 2002
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A Muskegon police sergeant facing several criminal charges after a high-speed chase early Saturday may have attempted to grab another officer’s gun during the struggle that ended with his arrest.
It took six or more officers to subdue Sgt. Chad Fellows after he was grabbed at the front door of his home when lengthy telephone negotiations did not result in his surrender, according to one police report.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague this morning confirmed that “we’re investigating reports that Fellows did attempt to take a weapon away from a fellow officer during his resisting arrest.”
Police Chief Tony Kleibecker declined to release his department’s reports of the incident, saying it was an ongoing investigation. He said he did not want to comment on the gun allegation until he has read all reports connected to the incident.
Fellows has been charged in Muskegon County with fleeing and eluding in a residential neighborhood, a felony, and with a high-court misdemeanor charge of resisting and obstructing police.
Fellows posted a $20,000 surety bond Sunday and voluntarily committed himself to a local mental health facility, authorities said Monday. He is scheduled for 60th District Court arraignment on May 6.
If it is determined that Fellows attempted to grab or did grab another officer’s gun during his arrest, he could face an additional felony charge, according to the prosecutor.
Tague said he met with Ottawa County Prosecutor Ronald Frantz Monday. It was decided that “any drunken-driving related charges would arise out of Ottawa County” and the fleeing and eluding charge there likely will be dismissed in favor of a similar Muskegon County charge, Tague said. Fellows is scheduled for arraignment in Ottawa County the first week in May.
The Muskegon Police Department’s own internal investigation started Sunday and is continuing. Fellows was placed on administrative leave following the incident.
The high-speed chase that resulted in Fellows’ arrest started about 1:37 a.m. Saturday on U.S. 31 near Taft Road in Ottawa County. Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Officer Joseph Steinhauer Jr. reported that a Cadillac passed him northbound traveling “well over 100 mph.”
As the pursuit continued, officers from Norton Shores and then Muskegon assisted. The Cadillac was abandoned on Morton Street in Muskegon’s Lakeside neighborhood, near Fellows’ home.
After a foot chase, Fellows ran into his house at 1761 Morton and wouldn’t come out, police said. Just before going inside, Norton Shores Officer Michael Wasilewski caught up to him in the back yard and used pepper spray to get Fellows to stop running, a report said. But Wasilewski slipped and Fellows ran inside.
A Norton Shores police report shows that the fleeing Cadillac actually belonged to another Muskegon police officer. When the license plate was checked during the pursuit, it came back as registered to that officer. However, it was learned that Fellows had borrowed the Cadillac and that its owner was out of town.
At 2:08 a.m., Kleibecker, Detective Captain John Workman and Patrol Capt. William Wiebenga were requested at the scene. At 2:14 a.m., a tactical response team from the Michigan State Police was put on alert for “a barricaded gunman,” according to the Norton Shores report.
Negotiations began, and at 2:59 a.m. Fellows’ wife threw at least one weapon out a back window and indicated she thought the rest of the weapons in the home were locked up, the report said. She said the children were safe in a bedroom.
After coaxing Fellows to the front door off a tiny porch a second time, Kleibecker, Workman and Sgt. Timothy Lewkowski rushed Fellows, who is 6-3 and weighs an estimated 280 pounds.
The Norton Shores report said five or six officers were trying to subdue Fellows and yelling for help. The Norton Shores officer reported that Fellows was pushing officers back and throwing punches, swearing and yelling, “you ain’t taking me.”
Fellows was then literally picked up by officers, but all of them ended up on the ground in the front yard as the struggle continued, the report said. Norton Shores Officer Michael Kasher tried to assist in handcuffing Fellows.
“I heard Officer (Ramiro) Pena yell, ‘He’s got my gun, he’s trying to get my gun,’ ” Kasher wrote in his report. Kasher then wrote that he saw Muskegon Officer (Steve) Martinez hit Fellows three times in the stomach area, ordering Fellows to “let go of the weapon.”
The Norton Shores report notes that Fellows was then taken into custody and makes no further comment on the weapon.
Kleibecker said a staff meeting was held Monday at the department to discuss the incident, and that on Monday night there was a session for those officers who responded to the scene to talk about what happened.
Police incidents have many twists, ties
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
April 23, 2002
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Muskegon Police Sgt. Chad Fellows has been in the news before, and there are an unusual number of connections and coincidences stemming from an incident Saturday that resulted in the command officer’s arrest for fleeing and resisting police.
The Waller incident: Five years ago today, Fellows was one of the officers present at the traffic stop of Scottie Len Waller, an African-American motorist who said he was injured by Muskegon police during the incident. Waller was pepper-gassed and suffered facial injuries. He was briefly hospitalized.
The incident resulted in racial tension in the community. At the time, Fellows was trying to pull Waller from the car when Waller tried to drive off. Fellows was dragged about 15 feet across a downtown parking lot until both he and Waller fell to the pavement. Fellows was injured in the incident.
The Pena connection: Another officer at the Waller traffic stop, Ramiro Pena II, was charged with assaulting Waller. A 60th District Court jury acquitted Pena of aggravated assault in March 1998.
Fellows was one of several Muskegon officers who testified for the prosecution, but he became antagonistic toward the assistant prosecutor while testifying. Fellows said at the time that pressure from prosecutors and the community upheaval left him stressed, discouraged and led him to question his career choice.
Three months later, Fellows was one of three officers who rescued a man from a house fire. The three were later honored by a local service organization.
This past Saturday, it was Pena’s gun that Fellows allegedly tried to grab during the struggle with officers who were arresting him, according to a police report.
Family tradition: The Muskegon police supervisor working the night of the Waller traffic stop April 23, 1997, was Lt. Joseph Steinhauer, now retired. On Saturday, it was Steinhauer’s son, Joseph Steinhauer Jr., a Spring Lake/Ferrysburg police officer, who pursued Fellows during the high-speed chase.
Out and in: Waller was acquitted of resisting arrest in connection with the 1997 traffic stop and also filed a $5.2 million federal civil lawsuit against the city and the police department. He later received a $625,000 settlement.
In January of this year, Waller was sentenced to prison for fleeing and eluding police and crashing his car while driving on a suspended license.
Sergeants all: One of the Muskegon officers who testifed for the prosecution at Pena’s trial was Mark Baker, a sergeant in charge of the narcotics unit. Baker was not present at the Waller traffic stop, but said he overheard a conversation later.
In October 2000, Baker and another narcotics officer were placed on paid administrative leave after Fellows told the police chief that Baker had told the other officer to pocket a $10 bill found while searching a drug suspect’s car.
A subsequent state police investigation showed there was no documentation for the $10, but also noted it was a very small amount of money and there was no personal benefit to Baker. No criminal charge was ever filed.
In January 2001, the administrative leave of Baker and the other officer became 90-day suspensions without pay. Baker was demoted. A union grievance was filed with the Command Officers Association of Michigan, and an arbitrator’s decision earlier this year reinstated Baker as a sergeant. In the meantime, Fellows also had become a sergeant.
Officer in chase pleads not guilty
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
May 2, 2002
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A Muskegon Police Department sergeant, facing several criminal charges after a high-speed chase early April 20, was arraigned Wednesday on two of those charges in Ottawa County’s 58th District Court.
Chad Fellows was arraigned on charges of third-degree fleeing and eluding and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He demanded a preliminary examination for the fleeing and eluding charge and entered a not guilty plea on the misdemeanor drunken driving charge.
A pre-preliminary examination on the two charges was set for 8 a.m. Tuesday. Fellows’ $5,000 cash or surety bond was continued. The fleeing and eluding felony charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Fellows has been charged in Muskegon County with fleeing and eluding in a residential neighborhood, a felony, and with a high-court misdemeanor charge of resisting and obstructing police.
Fellows posted a $20,000 surety bond April 21 and agreed to be evaluated by a local mental health facility as a condition of the bond. He is scheduled for arraignment Monday in Muskegon County’s 60th District Court.
The high-speed chase that resulted in Fellows’ arrest started about 1:37 a.m. on U.S. 31 near Taft Road in Ottawa County. Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Officer Joseph Steinhauer Jr. reported that a Cadillac passed him northbound traveling “well over 100 mph.”
As the pursuit continued, officers from Norton Shores and then Muskegon assisted. The Cadillac was abandoned on Morton Street in Muskegon’s Lakeside neighborhood, near Fellows’ home. After a foot chase, Fellows ran into his house at 1761 Morton and wouldn’t come out, police said.
Just before going inside, a Norton Shores officer caught up to him in the back yard and used pepper spray to get Fellows to stop running, a report said.
But the officer slipped and Fellows ran inside. Fellows eventually was coaxed by Muskegon police officers to a porch, where he was rushed and subdued.
Police officer arraigned in chase, struggle
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
May 6, 2002
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Former Muskegon police Sgt. Chad Fellows appeared in Muskegon’s 60th District Court this morning in connection with an April 20 high-speed chase that led to his arrest last month.
Fellows, who has resigned from the force, appeared before 60th District Judge Michael Nolan wearing a business suit.
He demanded preliminary hearings on charges of fleeing and eluding in a residential neighborhood, a felony, and a high-court misdemeanor charge of resisting and obstructing police.
Nolan set a hearing date of May 20 on both charges.
Fellows, who appeared in court without an attorney, appeared calm throughout the proceeding. He declined to comment afterward. His $20,000 surety bond was reduced to a personal recognizance bond.
The high-speed chase started on U.S. 31 in Ottawa County. Spring Lake/Ferrysburg police pursued him across the county line, and the chase was joined by police from Norton Shores and Muskegon.
Fellows abandoned the borrowed Cadillac in Muskegon’s Lakeside area and was chased by officers into his home on foot. Fellows was arrested after scuffling with police who had coaxed him out of the house.
It took six or more officers to subdue Sgt. Chad Fellows after he was grabbed at the front door of his home when lengthy telephone negotiations did not result in his surrender, according to one police report.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said “we're investigating reports that Fellows did attempt to take a weapon away from a fellow officer during his resisting arrest.”
In Ottawa County last week, Fellows demanded preliminary examination on charges of third-degree fleeing and eluding and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, to which he pleaded not guilty.
A preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for 8 a.m. Tuesday in Ottawa County’s 58th District Court. A $5,000 bond set in that county is continued.
Fellows’ resignation from the police force was confirmed this morning by the city’s Civil Service Department and leaves a sergeant’s position open.
The effective date of Fellows’ resignation was not clear this morning. Whether or when the position is filled will depend on the police chief, but no personnel recquisition has yet been made, officials said.
Lawyer- Arrested cop was stressed
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
May 7, 2002
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The defense attorney for former Muskegon Police Sgt. Chad Fellows said stress played a role in the events of April 20 that resulted in his client’s arrest on several criminal charges.
Fellows, 28, remains free on bond following his arraignment Monday in 60th District Court.
There, Fellows faces a felony charge of third-degree fleeing and eluding in a residential neighborhood and resisting and obstructing police, a high-court misdemeanor.
In Ottawa County last week, Fellows was arraigned on another felony fleeing and eluding charge and pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving.
A state police lab report showed that Fellows’ blood alcohol content after his arrest was 0.12 percent. In Michigan, a person is considered intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of 0.10 percent or greater.
All of the charges against Fellows stem from the April 20 incident that began with a high-speed chase on U.S. 31 in Ottawa County and ended after a standoff at his home, 1761 Morton. During the incident, police reports say Fellows tried to grab other officers’ guns during a struggle and may have attempted to uncuff himself while being transported to the police station.
Fellows has since resigned from the Muskegon Police Department. He had been placed on administrative leave after the incident and an internal investigation was started. Police Chief Tony Kleibecker said this morning that he is awaiting a written report from officers who conducted the internal investigation.
“What you’ll find, and we’re not justifying what happened, is that he was pretty close to a nervous breakdown,” said Larry C. Willey, Fellows’ Grand Rapids attorney.
“He recently lost a couple of very close people, relatives, and he had a lot of stresses at work. They all kind of came together that night.”
As to why on that night everything “came together” as opposed to any other night, Willey said: “I don’t think anybody has that answer.”
Willey said Fellows had been an excellent police officer.
Kleibecker said that it was “tough to lose somebody in these circumstances. He was a good employee and it’s been a very difficult situation. Chad’s moving on and the department is moving on.”
“He’s acknowledged to himself and others that what he did was inconsistent with being a police officer,” Willey said. “From that point of view, there is some therapy occurring. He’s getting help now.”
Willey said his client was “grateful that no one was injured.”
The high-speed chase began about 1:37 a.m. when Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Officer Joseph Steinhauer Jr. reported that a Cadillac passed him northbound on U.S. 31 traveling “well over 100 mph.”
A pursuit that came to involve other departments continued into Muskegon and to Fellows’ Lakeside neighborhood, where reports say Fellows abandoned the Cadillac, ran into his home and wouldn’t come out. Just before going inside, a Norton Shores officer caught up to Fellows and pepper-sprayed him, with little apparent effect.
One Muskegon officer arriving on Morton Street saw Fellows just after he’d been sprayed, walking near his garage, and thought Fellows was assisting officers in apprehending a high-speed chase suspect, a report said. The officer said he did not know at the time that Fellows was the suspect.
Fellows had dirt on his face and smelled of pepper spray, the officer wrote, adding that it gave him reason to believe Fellows was assisting the Norton Shores officer and that there had been a struggle with a suspect. When he asked Fellows if he (the Norton Shores officer) had the suspect, Fellows “put his head down and kept walking,” the report said.
Then began a standoff with Fellows refusing to come out of his house and officers surrounding the house, weapons drawn at one point.
A report by Sgt. Tim Lewkowski said Fellows was irate and he made the statement that “he had no other choice,” that officers were forcing him into the standoff situation. Lewkowski wrote that he believed Fellows was contemplating suicide.
The standoff lasted until sometime after 3 a.m., when the police chief, Detective Capt. John Workman and Lewkowski rushed Fellows, who had briefly come out on his small front porch. A police report said Fellows’ wife, who earlier had thrown a gun out a rear window, had locked the door behind her husband.
During the ensuing struggle, Fellows allegedly pushed Workman off the front porch and grabbed the police chief by the neck, according to a report written by Muskegon Officer Steve Martinez.
Reports by several other officers also indicated that Fellows allegedly grabbed for Muskegon Officer Ramiro Pena’s semi-automatic weapon, which was unlocked at the time — meaning that it was not locked in its holster and therefore could be pulled out.
Lewkowski reported that during the struggle Fellows knocked his radio out of its holder and that he believed the struggling officer was trying to grab his (Lewkowski’s) weapon.
Just as Lewkowski told other officers to watch their guns, he reported hearing Pena yell: “He’s got my gun.” Another Muskegon officer, Glen Berry, also wrote in his report that Fellows allegedly tried to get his weapon as well.
It took six or more officers to subdue and handcuff Fellows, reports said, and he was placed in the back of a police cruiser. Workman handed his own gun to another officer and rode to the police station in the back of the cruiser with Fellows.
Fellows, who was handcuffed with his hands behind his back, asked Workman to loosen the cuffs or cuff him with his hands in front of his body, a report said. Workman refused.
A short time later, Workman reported that he heard the sound of keys and noticed Fellows fidgeting. He wrote that he reached behind Fellows and found Fellows had a set of keys with a handcuff key on the ring and that he was attempting to get out of the handcuffs. He was secured and the trip to the police station resumed.
During the pursuit, a license plate check revealed the Cadillac belonged to Muskegon Officer Ron Smith, who it was determined had loaned the vehicle to his friend. Smith was out of town at the time.
A psychological evaluation was done prior to Fellows’ release on bond. Nolan set preliminary examination for Fellows in the Muskegon County case for May 20.
Police officer plans guilty plea in chase
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
July 8, 2002
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Former Muskegon Police Sgt. Chad Fellows, who led police in Ottawa and Muskegon counties on a high-speed chase April 20, was expected to plead guilty this afternoon in Ottawa County to drunken driving and fleeing and eluding charges.
Fellows, 28, of 1761 Morton, was scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before Chief 20th Circuit Judge Ed Post. According to Ottawa County Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Babbitt, Fellows was to enter guilty pleas to felony third-degree fleeing and eluding and misdemeanor first-offense operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor.
Post was expected to accept the plea and schedule sentencing for next month. The fleeing and eluding felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $5,000 bond.
Fellows also faces charges in Muskegon County’s 14th Circuit Court of fleeing and eluding in a residential neighborhood, a felony, and a high-court misdemeanor charge of resisting and obstructing police.
Bond for Fellows was set at $20,000 in Muskegon County and $5,000 in Ottawa County. Fellows resigned from the Muskegon Police Department in early May.
A Michigan State Police Lab report showed Fellows’ blood alcohol content after his arrest was 0.12 percent. In Michigan, a person is considered intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of 0.10 percent or greater.
Although Fellows faces charges in two counties, the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office is handling all of the cases stemming from the incident.
The high-speed chase April 20 started on U.S. 31 in Ottawa County when a Spring Lake/Ferrysburg police officer reported that a Cadillac passed him northbound traveling “well over 100 mph.”
Fellows abandoned the borrowed Cadillac in Muskegon’s Lakeside on Morton Street near his home, according to police. After a foot chase, Fellows ran into his house at 1761 Morton and wouldn’t come out, police said.
Fellows eventually was arrested after scuffling with police who had coaxed him out of the house.
It took six or more officers to subdue Fellows after he was grabbed at the front door of his home when lengthy telephone negotiations did not result in his surrender, according to one police report.
Former cop pleads guilty to resisting police officer
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
August 6, 2002
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Former Muskegon Police Sgt. Chad Fellows pleaded guilty Monday in Muskegon County to resisting and obstructing a police officer, a high-court misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison.
The former command officer’s plea before 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti was the last stage, before sentencing, of his plea agreement with the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office, which is prosecuting all the cases involving Fellows. Pursuant to an agreement between Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Babbitt and Fellows’ lawyer, Larry C. Willey, Marietti agreed to dismiss the more serious felony charge of fleeing and eluding police.
Fellows responded “Yes, sir,” to several questions from the judge about his flight from his fellow Muskegon police officers and commanders, based on a police report.
Marietti set sentencing for 11 a.m. Sept. 12.
Last month, Fellows, 28, of 1761 Morton, pleaded guilty in Ottawa County’s 20th Circuit Court to first-offense drunken driving and fleeing and eluding in that county.
At that time, Babbitt said the duplicate charge of third-degree fleeing and eluding in Muskegon County would be dropped because the actual chase by a police officer began in Ottawa County.
Fellows’ sentencing for those convictions is set for 1 p.m. next Monday.
Prosecutors also said last month that Fellows would not be charged with trying to grab another officer’s gun at the end of an April 20 chase and standoff.
Babbitt said last month he had reviewed all police reports about the incident, including one that stated Fellows tried to grab an officer’s weapon when he was being subdued by several officers in his home.
Babbitt said it was not clear what Fellows may have grabbed during the struggle, and there was no conclusive evidence that he intended to snatch a gun out of a holster.
The high-speed chase started on U.S. 31 in Ottawa County when a Spring Lake/Ferrysburg police officer reported that a Cadillac passed him northbound at “well over 100 mph.”
Fellows abandoned the borrowed Cadillac in Muskegon’s Lakeside neighborhood on Morton Avenue near his home, police said.
After a foot chase, Fellows ran into his house and wouldn’t come out.
He eventually was arrested after scuffling with police who had coaxed him out of the house.
It took six or more officers to subdue Fellows after he was grabbed at the front door of his home when lengthy telephone negotiations did not lead to his surrender, according to one police report.
Fellows resigned from the Muskegon Police Department in early May.
