Wedding guest's car impounded for burnouts by police in Dearborn Heights
DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Wedding festivities came to a screeching halt on Sunday after police impounded a guest's car.
Police say the driver was doing burnouts in a nearby parking lot. The tire marks are still on the ground at the scene in Dearborn Heights.
"You know it’s one thing to be dumb. it’s another thing to be dumb in public," said Paul Vanderplow, Dearborn Heights police.
Tires were screeching, smoke rising and passengers were hanging out of windows from burnouts in the Ever Fresh Market parking lot on Ann Arbor Trail. All of it was caught on phone video.
"A couple of individuals decided they wanted to impress people and they decided to start driving in a rather erratic and dangerous manner on a parking lot and created quite a stir within the area," said Vanderplow.
Vanderplow says within minutes people were calling them about the burnouts, which was happening on a parking lot that was freshly paved.
Officers immediately responded, investigated, and they later, through video and licenses plates, tracked down one of the vehicles, a white Dodge, at a nearby wedding.
"We don’t care where it was," he said. "When we find it, we are going to impound it."
That's exactly what they did. DHPD towed the vehicle right outside the wedding venue.
Guests surrounded the tow truck as its happening.
"The driver of the vehicle, you know, you’re performing maneuvers in vehicles that really aren’t meant for this," Vanderplow said. "They aren’t set up suspension-wise. They’re doing these things. Any number of factors can send these cars out of control, which we’ve seen time and time again."
Screenshot from Ever Fresh Market video
He says in some cases, people have died. Right now police are working to cite the driver.
"We want it to go through the courts, you will pay fines," he said. "You will pay to have the thing pulled out of the pound. And I do believe on some level, if I remember right, we could actually seize the vehicle too if it’s egregious enough."
Licenses could be suspended or revoked too, if need be, he says. Ultimately, he says don't do burnouts, it's simply too dangerous.
"If you want to impress people by driving, go take a senior to an appointment," he said. "You know, go drive a meal to somebody who’s a shut-in. This other stuff, you know frankly, if you’re doing this, you’re stupid.
"And if you don’t like me saying that come on down to the police department and I’ll tell you to your face."
The white Dodge is currently impounded. Vanderlpow says they're working to find the other vehicles and drivers.
