Restaurant manager attacked • Oil intentionally spilled on road • Zion Foster murder opening statements

TUESDAY NEWS HIT - A customer who allegedly didn't want to pay for their drinks attacked a restaurant manager in Livonia last month, leaving her hospitalized with staples in her head.

Susan Rains works at a restaurant that we are not naming, per her request. She said two customers complained about their steak, so she took the food off the bill and apologized. However, $6 worth of drinks were still on the bill. The customers crumbled the receipt and threw it at Rains before another person who was with the pair, Deshaun Kelly, allegedly attacked her.

"He dumped the drink on me first, and then he smashed it on the side of my head," she said. "Then he just punched me in the eye, and I fell to the ground."

The incident was caught on camera. Facial recognition helped Livonia police arrest Kelly a week later. He was charged with assault.

"We want to always be on the side of the customer, but the customer cannot get in your face, and be rude, and mean, and condescending – and just say 'I'm not paying my bill because I don't want to pay my bill,'" Rains said. 

Oil intentionally spilled on West Bloomfield road

Oil spilled across Square Lake Road led to a road closure Tuesday morning, and police say it appears the spill was intentional. 

West Bloomfield Police Deputy Chief Dale Young said a call came at around 10:45 p.m. Monday from a witness who saw a box truck that appeared to be leaking oil onto the road near Square Lake and Middlebelt. As of Tuesday morning, that oil had coated the road between St. Joseph Street and Pine Ridge Road, and it had made its way into the neighborhood.

"Our preliminary investigation is showing that yes, it likely is intentional," Young said. "I've been doing this about 20 years, and I've certainly never dealt with anything like this."

Though the oily substance is not harmful, according to police, Square Lake is closed because the road is too slippery to drive on.

Opening statements in Zion Foster murder trial

Prosecution and defense are expected to deliver opening statements Tuesday in the murder trial against Jaylin Brazier.

The 25-year-old is accused of killing his cousin, Zion Foster, in 2022. Brazier was originally charged and convicted of lying to police. While serving time for that crime, he was charged with murder, though a body has never been found.

On Monday, a 12-person jury was selected as Brazier's trial gets underway.

Brazier told police that he was with Foster when they left her home on Jan. 4, 2022. He admits that they were smoking marijuana, adding that she died with him – and that he even dumped her body in a dumpster somewhere in Detroit. But he denies that he killed her.

Bird flu spurs emergency order

On May 8, a state emergency order will go into effect in Michigan in an effort to limit the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or bird flu.

While it's not impacting people yet, HPAI's toll on the state's economy as well as its operations for supplying eggs and meat has taken a hit. Left unchecked, the director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development warns issues could only intensify.

"Michigan's been in the unique position of dealing with a pretty significant HPAI outbreak both in a number of fair herds here in the state, but a number of poultry operations as well - some commercial egg laying facilities, some turkey farms," said Director Tim Boring.

Normally, mid-spring issues that farmers manage are normally related to the weather and too much rain - or cold nights freezing crops. But this year, it's the bird flu. 

Police shut down Detroit Cinco de Mayo celebration

Organizers of a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Detroit are angry after they say police abruptly shut down the event Sunday.

"We had a whole event planned around Mexican art, music and culture," said Michael Reyes, the co-diector of the music label We Are Culture Creators in Detroit.

In a video provided by Reyes, police can be heard telling the crowds to "clear the area," and "the street is now closed" during Fiesta Detroit. An earlier event, the 59th Annual Cinco de Mayo Parade and Fiesta was a success.

But at Fiesta Detroit, which was geared toward the Gen Z and younger Millennial crowd, everything was going well until police showed up, according to organizers.

Police saw things differently.

"Some businesses had overcrowding. Double and triple capacity, which creates a number of issues for us," Chief James White said. "A decision was made at that time to pause that business, whether it be to allow for traffic to dissipate, move on from that area and into other areas, but no businesses were shut down."

However, event organizers maintain that police never made it clear why they dispersed the party goers.

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Daily Forecast

Some thunderstorms today could be severe.

What else we're watching

1. Police say a 19-year-old motorcyclist killed in a crash was speeding on I-94 before losing control Monday night.
2. A Toledo man is in custody in Michigan after police say he shot at another driver on I-75. It happened Monday morning in Monroe County.
3. A 16-year-old was taken into custody as Detroit police continue investigating a quadruple shooting that happened at Stein Park last week.
4. During the NFL Draft in Detroit, police spent two days hunting down suspected human traffickers and busting them. FOX 2 Detroit went along for a behind-the-scenes look at the operation.
5. Hines Drive Saturday road closures have resumed for bicycling, walking, and running. The road will be closed every Saturday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. through Sept. 28. 

Trump fined $1K for gag order violation as former employee discusses repayments

The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined him $1,000 on Monday and warned that future gag order violations could send him to jail, while jurors heard detailed testimony for the first time about the financial reimbursements at the center of the case.

The testimony from Jeffrey McConney, the former Trump Organization controller, provided a mechanical but vital recitation of how the company reimbursed payments meant to suppress embarrassing stories from surfacing during the 2016 presidential campaign and then logged them as legal expenses in a manner that Manhattan prosecutors said broke the law.

McConney's appearance on the witness stand came as the first criminal trial involving a former American president entered its third week of testimony.