Royal Oak man charged for strangling tied up father
(FOX 2) - A 31-year-old Royal Oak man has been charged with killing his elderly father.
Dane Steward was arrested Thursday after a chase that led across the state to the Indiana border, assaulting police officers and back.
Investigators found his father's body inside the house they shared last week on Elmhurst, discovering 73-year old Dennis Steward had been strangled with his hands and legs bound.
Police later spotted Dane in his father's stolen vehicle. But he sped off leading officers on an hour-long chase through several counties. The car was tracked down in Berrien County after a deputy there reported helping the man after he ran out of gas on I-94 near the Indiana border.
Gratiot County deputies were called to investigate a person acting erratically at a gas station Thursday evening. According to the Gratiot County Sheriff's Office, workers and customers at the gas station said the man appeared to be under the influence.
Deputies gave him a field test but he was not drunk. However, authorities believed he was under the influence of something so they would not let him leave. Authorities eventually got in contact with Royal Oak police who identified him as the man they were searching for in the murder.
When they tried to arrest him, deputies say he fought them off and punched and kicked his way away from the officers, breaking one of the deputies' nose.
The sheriff said he then sped off in the car, leading police on a chase through Clinton, Ingham, and Livingston Counties that lasted over an hour.
Deputies deployed spike strips, disabling the car’s tires. At some point, the car eventually caught fire and deputies tried to arrest him again.
The Gratiot County Sheriff said he fought with 6 or 7 officers and had to be tased twice before he was finally under control and able to be taken into custody.
No officers were seriously injured and the man was taken to the hospital for minor injuries.
The man is in custody as police investigate. No motive is known.