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WARREN — An exam hearing for a man facing charges for allegedly hitting and killing a 71-year-old woman while fleeing from police has been rescheduled.
On May 24, Anthony Eugene-Douglas Grier Jr., 33, of Detroit, was stopped by Warren police for allegedly speeding northbound on Van Dyke Avenue. Officers tried to initiate a traffic stop but Grier reportedly continued to speed.
Police chased Grier as he allegedly sped away at up to 100 mph, reportedly running six red lights, until he struck Wendy Drew’s vehicle at the intersection of Van Dyke and Nine Mile Road. Drew, a 71-year-old Hazel Park resident, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Grier is facing one charge of second-degree homicide and one charge of third-degree fleeing and eluding. He was scheduled for a preliminary examination hearing at 9:30 a.m. June 12. His attorney, Joshua Van Laan, asked that the hearing be rescheduled as a probable cause hearing.
Van Laan said the prosecutor assigned to the case, Rich Nelson, was tied up in another hearing and that discovery of evidence remains ongoing.
“I just got another discovery, not that it’s been delayed. They gave it as soon as I was appointed, but because of that, we can’t really hold the exam today,” Van Laan said during the June 12 hearing.
Chief Judge John Chmura of the 37th District Court reminded Grier that he’s entitled to have a preliminary examination not less than five or more than seven days from the probable cause conference, which was held June 5.
“If I reset this as a probable cause conference, as the people are agreeing to do, you would not have that preliminary examination for more than five days,” Chmura said, addressing Grier.
Before leaving the courtroom, Van Laan told Chmura he wasn’t going to make a motion to add bond to Grier’s case. Van Laan said when another probable cause conference is set, the judge will review the bond and maintain his previous decision until the preliminary exam.
Outside the courtroom, Van Laan said there wasn’t a reason to make a motion at this time.
“I haven’t reviewed everything, so I don’t want to say we’re going to do it or we’re not going to do it,” he said.
Van Laan said he wasn’t surprised Grier was facing a second-degree charge because they would assume someone running from the police has a disregard for the safety of others.
“I’m not saying that’s the case, but I think the prosecutor would generally assume that if you’re running from the police, you have some sort of disregard for everybody else,” he said. “But there’s a lot more information out there and there’s a lot of other factors that come into play.”
However, while questions remain about why Grier was running from the police, Van Laan emphasized the lasting impact of his actions.
“We’re still early on in the case, but to make one thing clear, we still have somebody here who was killed,” he said. “It’s traumatic, it’s horrible and I feel bad for the family, and nothing we can do will bring that back. I think everybody’s going to end up losing at the end of it all.”
A new probable cause conference was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. July 10.
Since the incident, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido declared a new policy prohibiting reduced plea offers for individuals arrested for fleeing and eluding law enforcement in Macomb County.
A press release from Lucido’s office cited this incident — as well as several others — as reasoning for the new policy.
