Witnesses tell of alleged drunk driver who left trail of crash scenes before bystanders detained him

TAYLOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - It happened in a matter of minutes - one hit and run crash after the other - and in the end, it was a few good Samaritans that were able to detain the alleged drunk driver until police could arrive. Luckily no one was seriously hurt.

"As he's backing up, he side swipes a car in the parking lot," said witness Rich Hackenberg. "Then he started backing up and almost hit all the parked cars all over again."

It started around 9:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve in the parking lot of Big League Brews on Ecorse. But when this alleged drunk driver left, Hackenberg followed.

"He didn't have his headlights on, that's when he rear-ended the Buick Rendezvous at Mortenview," he said. "He slammed into her so hard, he was pretty much stuck to her."

That crash caused a chain reaction, striking Magen Pirie's Dodge Charger.

"After they hit me I could barely see straight," said Pirie. "I had to sit down."

She says the lingering effects of the crash are only just now wearing off.

"My neck and back have been hurting ever since the accident," she added. "I'm able to turn my neck to the left finally today."

From there, the driver kept going down Mortenview.

"He slammed into the two parked cars almost put it on its side," Hackenberg said.

One of those cars belonged to Mark Meadows' granddaughter.

"It knocked the front right wheel off of his truck when he hit her car and drove her up, over the curb," Meadows said.
 
That may have disabled the truck - but witnesses say he wasn't done running.

"He came at me like he didn't even know what was going on, like, 'Why did you stop me, what's going on?' It's like you didn't see anything?" Hackenberg said.

By now neighbors had come out when they put together what was happening.

"They just swiped him up and put him down," Hackenberg said. "He was reaching for his pockets when he was on the ground, and that's when someone decided to use their belt to tie them up."

"One of the guys took his belt off and put his arms behind him, and used the belt to tie him up," Meadows said.

They held the 42-year-old man from Allen Park until Taylor police arrived and took him into custody.

"Hopefully this guy will learn his lesson and get the help he needs," said Pirie.

The drunk driving suspect's truck.

Police are now awaiting the results of a blood test to determine how drunk the alleged driver was at the time - including determining if the suspect had been drinking inside the bar. Once it gets those results, Taylor PD will hand the case over to the Wayne County Prosecutor for charges.