One Of The Last Saves of 2022

An impressive fast response and rescue by Grand Rapids' newly operational  Fire Department Dive Team saves a life on December 31, 2022:

The Detroit News: Divers rescue driver trapped inside submerged car in Grand Rapids river

Divers with the Grand Rapids Fire Department's water rescue team rescued a person trapped inside a submerged car in the Grand River Saturday morning.

They were informed about a car in the Grand River at 10:59 a.m. and responded to the scene by 11:02 a.m. The vehicle had reportedly jumped a snowbank behind a hotel on the 200 block of Ann Street, according to a news release. The initial 911 caller reported that the car was overturned about 150 feet from the shore.

Most of the time when a car goes in the water in Michigan in December, it is a recovery and not a rescue. Here the driver got very lucky indeed.

Great response time and recovery effort by the dive team. Nice to have some good news to wrap up the year.

Kent County Prosecutor Throws Cop To The Mob

Instead of backing the officer, Christopher Schurr, who was facing a deadly threat from the rather super-drunk and feloniously disorderly Patrick Lyoya after Lyoya was pulled over driving a car with non-matching tags, on probation, and on a revoked license with a BAC of .28 and then he decided to resist arrest and fight the officer.

The Kent County prosecutor caved to the demands of BLM to charge the officer after he was attacked by Lyoya and Lyoya had grabbed his Taser.

With second degree murder.

The Detroit Free Press: Christopher Schurr charged with second-degree murder in shooting of Patrick Lyoya

This practice of charging officers (and in this case an officer with an unblemished record) with crimes when the designated minority is harmed while resisting arrest is going to make officers far less eager to pull over suspicious vehicles, and enforce the law and arrest offenders.

Expect crime to increase as officers decide it is simply no longer worth trying to arrest offenders. Combined with soft on crime prosecutors not following through with charges on offenders and going for no cash bail, and it's a perfect recipe for rising crime rates.

Bet on it.

No Wonder Lyoya Ran: Drunk, Driving On A Revoked License, And With Open Warrants

The Detroit News: Lyoya super drunk under law when pulled over in fatal traffic stop, exam finds

Meanwhile BLM and progressives are saying the officer should have just let him run away instead of chasing him.

The blood-alcohol level of the man shot and killed by a Grand Rapids police officer last month was more than three times the legal limit, according to a Kent County Medical Examiner's autopsy and toxicology report released Monday to The Detroit News under a public records request. 

Lyoya's blood ethanol was 290 mg/dL, according to the report. That converts to a 0.29 BAC, more than three times Michigan's limit of 0.08 and higher than 0.17, which the state classifies as super drunk.

Well, that among many other factors certainly explains why he decided to run and then fought the officer - driving Super-Drunk, on a revoked license, on probation, and with an outstanding warrant for his arrest is no way to go through life.

Apparently BLM would have much preferred if he got a free pass to drive drunk and then went off and killed someone rather than have an officer try and arrest a choirboy multiple-offense criminal.

The Media Finally Reports (A Little Bit) On Lyoya's Extensive Criminal Record

The media is finally reporting some of the more salient details of Lyoya's criminal history, after weeks of depicting him as such a good boy who was just a poor refugee form the Congo.

The media is only starting to report this after they have reported far more biographical details about the officer who justifiably shot Lyoya - everything about the officer from the high school he attended forward.

The media is now finally getting around to reporting that: 

Lyoya, since coming to Michigan from Congo in 2014, was convicted twice of assaulting women and had an arrest warrant for domestic violence. During the April 4 incident, he appeared to wrestle with the officer for control of his stun gun.

Hurts the choirboy image a tad, now doesn't it?

Unsurprisingly, this information is buried deep in an article in the Detroit News titled: Police union defends Grand Rapids cop who fatally shot Lyoya -- every other article still keeps up the dindu nothin' image.  Funny, that.

The media is also still not reporting that he was driving at the time on a revoked license for a DUI, nor his DUI record, nor that he was on probation at the time he was pulled over in a car with a non-marching license plate.  Interesting how they don't report that as it would certainly explain why he decided to resist arrest.

Yep, He's A Dumas Alright

Sometimes criminals live up to their names.

While on parole for larceny, with among other restrictions, a requirement not to use alcohol, ends up intoxicated, drives drunk and wrecks his car to then have a conservation officer come on the scene.

He then assaults the conservation officer.  Which doesn't go too well for him, especially when passersby came and assisted the conservation officer.

The Detroit News: Grand Rapids man convicted in attack on conservation officer

Yes, Devinci Osiris Dumas is indeed a dumbass.

Don't Bring A Hammer To A Car Fight

A reminder for those who missed that day in Physics Class: mass matters.

The Detroit News: Police: Taxi driver runs over, kills man after threat

Police say a taxi driver fatally struck a man with his cab in western Michigan after the man threatened him with a hammer and tried to rob him.
Officers responded about 2 a.m. Thursday after the man was hit by the cab in Grand Rapids.

A clear case of a stupid criminal doing stupid things stupidly early in the morning.

A Tale Of Two (Michigan) Cities

While Grand Rapids, Michigan is a thriving medium-sized city, Detroit is still trying to climb out of bankruptcy, crime, corruption and Democrat one-party rule. Detroit has made some strides, such as in appointing an effective and tough Chief of Police in James Craig, but it's backsliding in other significant ways.

The culture of Detroit, especially its culture of easy and unjustifiable criminal violence has yet to be transformed, and until that happens much of the changes aren't going to help improve the city overall.

The Detroit News: Grand Rapids revels in its low murder rate

Last year Detroit had 300 murders or 42.9 per 100,000 residents. In contrast, Grand Rapids had 6 murders or 3.2 per 100,000 residents.

The Detroit News points out helpfully that not a single one of the Grand Rapids murders was committed with a firearm, as if a murder with a firearm is somehow worse that by other means.

The cultures and politics between the two cities are quite different and Detroit could stand to learn a lot by adapting the better parts of the culture and polices of Grand Rapids.