Detroit Down Payment Assistance • Dearborn Heights shutdown looms • Biden, Trump clash on key issues at debate

FRIDAY NEWS HIT - Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy Bradley Reckling will be laid to rest Friday in Auburn Hills.

A viewing for the fallen deputy will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Apostolic Church of Auburn Hills, with the funeral immediately following.

Reckling, a father of three with another child on the way, was gunned down in Detroit last Saturday. He was following a stolen vehicle when people got out and started shooting on the east side. 

After a perimeter was set up, three people were taken into custody. One of those people, Karim Blake Moore, 18, has been charged with three counts of lying to a peace officer during a violent crime investigation and one count of resisting arrest. The others are being held on unrelated charges, but haven't been charged in connection with Reckling's murder.

Dearborn Heights prepares for shutdown

If the Dearborn Heights City Council doesn’t approve a budget by June 30, all city services could shut down July 1, according to Mayor Bill Bazzi.

Both sides are working to ensure that doesn’t happen, with one more special council meeting set for Friday evening.

Bazzi said that the Council has rejected "several" balanced budgets, while Council Chairman Mo Baydoun said that the budgets started with a $1.9 million shortfall, and all have asked to take money from the city’s "rainy day" fund, which is not acceptable to the Council.

The city is already in violation of its own charter, requiring the budget to be passed by the first Monday of June, but the July 1 deadline is a state law.

""There will be no trash pick-up, no public works services, all youth and senior recreation programs will be canceled, the city’s telephone system, its website and cable TV channel will be shut down, and all employee compensation, along with their benefits, will cease," Bazzi said.

Round 2 of Detroit's Down Payment Assistance Program begins

Detroit residents can get help with buying a home during the second round of the Down Payment Assistance Program, which began Thursday.

Round one of the plan saw families go from renters to owners – with up to $25,000 in down payments from the American Rescue Plan.

"We saw 434 people in a matter of months (who) bought their home through this program," Mayor Mike Duggan said. "You can buy a house, pay the taxes, pay the mortgage for less than what you’re doing, and you never have to worry about moving again."

During the second round, the City of Detroit will use $7 million in federal and partner funds. The announcement was made in the Morningside subdivision; even the head of the American Rescue Plan showed up for encouragement. 

"You have to be of middle to lower income and you have to had lived in Detroit for one year as a renter," Duggan said.

Lawyer for Marshella Chidester says blood sample was tainted

In court Thursday, it was revealed that Marshella Chidester, the 66-year-old woman who slammed into the Swan Boat Club in April, had a BAC more than twice the legal limit.

The April 20 crash killed two children and left others with serious injuries. 

From the start, prosecutors said Chidester was drunk, but her attorney argued the crash was the result of a medical condition that causes her to have seizures. According to a lab report read in court, her BAC was .18. She also failed several field sobriety tests at the scene.

However, attorney Bill Colovos continues to argue that his client was not drunk. He says h believes her blood showed a false positive and wants the BAC results dismissed.

"Somebody that's at a .18, they've got some slurring going on. You can detect it right away," Colovos said. "The BAC, I think, is tainted, and if you take the BAC away, there is just nothing there."

Chidester was bound over for trial on all charges – two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury.

Teen learns sentence for murder of 5-year-old, 2 adults

Malcolm Ray Hardy, 18, will spend 28 to 60 years in prison for the 2022 murder of Aaron Benson, LaShon Marshall, and her son, Caleb Harris.

Hardy, who was 16 at the time, killed Benson and Marshall before turning the gun on 5-year-old Caleb and shooting him nine times.

According to previous testimony, Hardy thought Caleb was "going to snitch on him," so he killed him, too.

During Hardy's sentencing, several victim impact statements were given.

"My sister decided to give you a chance at life because she could relate to the lifestyle you were living," said Chenell Marshall, LaShon's sister. "My sister cared for you. … LaShon had so much life to give the world, and you stopped it because your own selfish reasons."

Hardy sat silently as the statements were given. 

Biden, Trump clash on key issues at debate

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate on Thursday night in Atlanta. This is the first matchup between a sitting president and a former one, happening early in the general election cycle before either has accepted their party’s nomination.

The candidates clashed on key issues, including the economy, abortion rights, immigration, and the war in Ukraine, among other hot topics.

The debate wrapped up with Trump criticizing President Biden, calling him "a complainer" and associating him with career politicians. Trump asserted that both the public and foreign leaders lack respect for Biden, stating, "The whole country is exploding because of you."

Biden began his closing statement with an increasingly scratchy voice that was sometimes hard to understand. He emphasized the progress made during his administration from what he described as the "debacle" left by Trump’s last term. Biden also mentioned price cuts on insulin, though he mistakenly said $35 instead of $15.

Live on FOX 2

Daily Forecast

Today will be mostly dry, save for some possible raindrops this afternoon. 

What else we're watching

1. An 11-year-old girl lost several fingers in a firework accident Thursday in River Rouge. The firework exploded in the girl's hand after she found it in the home and thought it was "something smaller."
2. A Hillsdale County deputy is dead after a shooting Thursday. The suspect who shot them was killed by Michigan State Police troopers when they encountered him later.
3. As the murder trial for Michael Jackson-Bolanos stretched into day 10, several police officers, homicide detectives, and forensic scientists took the stand. Jackson-Bolanos is accused of stabbing Samantha Woll to death last year.
4. The Farmington Hills Police Department and its chief were honored on Thursday for being the first law enforcement agency in Michigan to have all of its sworn officers and dispatchers complete mental health training.
5. Alcohol appears to be a factor in a crash that injured several people Thursday night in Canton. A Northville man hit another vehicle near Canton Center and Ford roads.

Over 1,000 new species added to ‘red list,’ threatened with extinction

Over 45,000 species are now threatened with extinction — 1,000 more than last year, according to an international conservation organization.

On Thursday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature released its Red List of Threatened Species, which now lists 45,300 species threatened with extinction. More than 163,000 species were accessed this year.

The organization says the IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. Copiapoa cacti, native to Chile’s Atacama coastal desert, the Bornean elephant and the Gran Canaria giant lizard are among the threatened species.

IUCN blames its increase on pressures from climate change, invasive species and human activity such as illicit trade and infrastructural expansion.

Read more here.