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Man arrested for parking tickets says Detroit officer fell asleep twice before hitting another car

By Charlie Langton and FOX 2 Staff
Published  March 15, 2022 5:31pm EDT
Michigan
FOX 2 Detroit

Detroit man seriously hurt after DPD officer rear-ends another car

A Detroit man says he was in the backseat of a police cruiser when the officer driving fell asleep and rear-ended another car.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A man who was arrested for outstanding parking tickets out of Detroit was hurt Monday when he said the officer who was transporting him from Warren fell asleep twice and ultimately rear-ended another car.

Xavier Cramatie was being driven back to Detroit from the Macomb County Jail to the Detroit jail. According to Cramatie, he was picked up for possession and outstanding parking tickets when he was handcuffed in the back of the police car when the Detroit Police Officer fell asleep at the wheel.

"I noticed the officer fall asleep one time," he said.

But then Xavier says the officer got it together, change the stations on the radio and everything seemed to be okay but then it happened again.

"We get down by 696 and I noticed like he swerved into, you know, into the turning lane. And he fell asleep again and hit the back of a vehicle," Cramatie said.

It was in Warren on Groesbeck, just north of 696 and police commissioner Bill Dwyer said the officer is facing a civil infraction - which means a fine, points, but no jail.

"The investigation is completed, and quite frankly, the officer was found at fault," Dwyer said. 

DPD Second Deputy Chief Harper Rudy Harper said the officer was not believed to be asleep at the time.

"We have no evidence to support that the officer was sleeping.  In fact, the officers were having a conversation seconds before the accident," Harper said.

Cramatie said he knows people won't believe him because of his record but he knows what he saw.

He was seriously injured and lost a front tooth. He also said that he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

"My injuries might not of been too bad if I was in a seatbelt," he said.

Cramatie said he's using the crash as a wake-up call for his life.

"Gotta get them tickets cleared up," he said.

Update (March 16): Harper released a follow-up statement on the case, saying:

"We continue to investigate a claim that the officer fell asleep while driving. Initially, we thought the officers were speaking to each other, but it may have been the radio."