Family dismisses charges against Warren police officer as preferential treatment

article

Cedric Hayden Sr. describes his feelings about manslaughter charges against the police officer who killed his son in a traffic accident.

(FOX2) – The families of two men killed in a crash involving a police officer in Warren condemned the prosecutor’s decision to charge the officer with involuntary manslaughter, saying it amounted to preferential treatment.

James Burke, 28, was accused He was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two other crimes, the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday. He appeared in court almost two months after the fatal crash.

Standing next to his lawyers Monday morning is Cedric Hayden Jr., 34. and friends, siblings and parents of DeJuan Pettis, 33, said investigators were “trying to sweep something under the rug” when they chose not to file charges. Burke with murder.

“If I personally did that and killed two officers, you would never see me in prison again,” Cedric Hayden Sr. said.

His lawyers argued that the charging decision and the way Burke was brought to trial amounted to preferential treatment based on race. James Harrington cited a case in which a Black man was charged with murder following a fatal crash in Warren earlier this year.

“He was given $1 million bail and a rope was tied around his leg. Now we have a white cop who killed two people driving like a maniac and he gets $100,000 personal bail and is not charged with second-degree murder.”

This is privileged treatment. And if that doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what will,” Harrington added.

Burke and another officer were driving toward Schoenherr on Sept. 30 when they crashed into a white Dodge Durango at a high rate of speed. The Macomb County District Attorney’s Office said the officer’s “decision to drive at high speeds without lights or sirens undermined safety measures intended to protect everyone on the road.”

“They treated Schoenherr like it was a race track, a race track,” said Lakita Blakeney, Pettis’ girlfriend at the time of his death.

Pettis and Hayden’s family have filed two separate civil lawsuits against the Warren Police Department, and Harrington said they are laying the groundwork for a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department over its policing practices on the city’s border with Detroit.

This includes a $100 million suit.

Burke was also charged with moving violations and willful dereliction of duty. The decision was first announced on the sheriff’s office Facebook page Friday afternoon.