Michigan Trooper Gives Ride, Warning To Interstate Scooter Rider, 76

WEST BRANCH, MI — Talk about a slow-moving chase: A state trooper in Michigan pulled over a 76-year-old woman this week as she was riding her mobility scooter along the Interstate 75 expressway near West Branch. Most mobility scooters don’t travel faster than 5 mph, putting the woman about 40 miles outside of the law.

Police said the woman had just finished a Walmart shopping run and wanted to take a quicker route to her home about three miles away. Multiple motorists had called police around 4 p.m. Wednesday to report having seen an elderly scooter rider put-putting along the northbound shoulder of the interstate.

Trooper Jeff Devine flagged her down, loaded her Amigo mobility scooter in his cruiser, drove her home and let her off with a warning, the Bay City News reported. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, like us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

“The highway is designed for motor vehicles,” MSP Sgt. Pete McNamara of the West Branch Post told the Bay City News. “Other vehicles are not permitted.”

Though he has occasionally had to warn bicyclists to stay off the interstate, the call about a 76-year-old on a mobility scooter was a first, he said.

Michigan State Police photo