Defense argues improper turn lead to fatal police-involved crash

WARREN — Tensions rose in the 37th District Court during an exam hearing for a former Warren police officer who hit a vehicle, killing both passengers in late 2024.

James Burke was driving a Warren police SUV without emergency lights and sirens at speeds of over 110 miles per hour on Schoenherr Road in Warren at around 5 a.m. Sept. 30, 2024, when he hit a white Dodge Durango that was attempting to turn left from Schoenherr Road onto Prospect Avenue.

The passengers of the Durango, Cedric Hayden Jr., 34 and DeJuan Pettis, 33, were both killed. The officers sustained serious injuries as well.

Burke is facing two counts of manslaughter with a motor vehicle, a 15-year felony; one count of moving violation causing serious impairment of a body function, a 93-day misdemeanor and willful neglect of duty by a public officer, a one-year misdemeanor.

At an exam hearing held June 25 in the 37th District Court — a hearing that was continued from June 23 — Macomb County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Cory Newman argued Burke’s driving was the primary factor in the crash.

Deputy Joe Bosek of the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office, a crash reconstruction expert, testified that due to his speed, Burke traveled the length of nearly three football fields in a matter of seconds.

According to data obtained from the vehicle, Burke was traveling at approximately 168.4 feet per second five seconds before the crash, Bosek testified. At five seconds prior to the crash, Burke was approximately 976 feet from the Durango and was travelling at about 114 miles per hour, he said.

The data, Bosek said, came from the event data recorder on both vehicles. Additional data was obtained from several videos of the crash recorded by Burke’s dashcam and security cameras at local businesses.

Burke’s attorney, Marc Curtis, argued Pettis was at least partially at fault for the crash.

Bosek pointed out that Hayden, who was driving the Durango, made the turn early, causing him to cross a double-yellow line instead of turning at the break in the line, according to his reconstruction.

“In this case, the driver crossed over the double yellow line, and that’s what makes it improper,” Bosek said.

Burke called Charles Funk, an accident reconstruction specialist, to testify, who presented three simulated scenarios showing what would have happened if Hayden had pulled several feet further. One scenario showed what actually happened while the other two showed what would have happened if the Durango turned later.

Funk stated that the turn made by the Durango put it into the path of Burke’s police vehicle.

“You could kind of consider that like cutting the corner,” Funk said.

But Newman countered, stating the scenarios only showed what would’ve happened if the behavior of the Durango had changed, not Burke’s police vehicle.

“You didn’t prepare any demonstrations indicating what would have happened if the Durango turned in the exact same nature as it did, and the police vehicle was going only 80 miles per hour,” Newman said.

Funk replied, stating there wouldn’t have been a crash. Newman also asked if the demonstrations could account for what would have happened if Burke had his lights and sirens on.

“I have no idea what effect that would have had, that’s correct,” Funk said.

Newman asked Funk if the speed of the vehicle was also a contributing factor to the crash.

“It was also a contributing factor, yes,” Funk said.

District Judge John Chmura adjourned the hearing until 1 p.m. July 30 to give Curtis time to call two additional witnesses. This decision was met with frustration from the family of the victims, who were seated in the gallery of the courtroom.

The families of Hayden and Pettis, with representation from Fieger Law, have filed several multimillion dollar lawsuits against the city of Warren and the two police officers.