ROCHESTER HILLS ? On Tuesday, April 12, Bobbie Heath was charged in the 52-3 District Court with car-jacking, felonious assault, three counts of resisting arrest and one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Sergeant Pete Burkett, of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department Addison Township Substation, said the car-jacking charge alone could land the 19-year-old Sterling Heights man a life sentence.
Heath was arrested in Addison Township early Sunday morning after smashing his truck into a tree at Rochester and Barr roads.
‘The vehicle caught fire and Heath was struggling to get out,? said Burkett, adding that a Dryden couple came on the scene and pulled Heath free of the burning wreckage. Instead of thanking the rescuers however, Heath allegedly knocked the man to the ground, jumped into the couple’s car and attempted to escape the scene of the accident.
‘A deputy on patrol happened be passing the scene and saw what was happening,? Burkett said.
Burkett said it took three deputies to get handcuffs on Heath and place him into the patrol car. After an alleged attempted escape from the patrol car, it took Deputies Jason Louwaert, Brad Oustrander, and Rami Abi-Adal to restrain Heath enough to return to the patrol car. Deputy Rami Abi-Adal suffered a broken wrist in the struggle.
Currently Heath is being housed in the Oakland County Jail in lieu of paying ten percent of a $25,000, personal bond. Should Heath pay the bond, 52-3rd District Magistrate Julie Johnston ordered him to wear a tether upon release.
A date for a pretrial exam of the charges has not been set.