Ferndale Residents Help Officers Locate Fugitive With 24 Driving Suspensions

FERNDALE, MI — Two Ferndale residents helped police catch a man with 24 suspensions on his driver's license after he fled the scene of a traffic stop Monday, The Daily Tribune reports.

At about 4:30 p.m. Monday, an officer stopped a man for speeding on Eight Mile Road near Laprarie.

William Albert Woods, 40, of Detroit, told the officer he didn't have any identification on him and he believed his license was suspended. Woods was speeding because he was late to pick up his girlfriend from work, he told the officer.

An officer ran Woods' name on the computer and discovered he had 24 suspended license violations.

Woods was talking on his cellphone when the officer ran his name on the computer.

As the officer approached Woods to arrest him, Woods ran off into backyards on Laprarie, police said.

Ferndale police set up a perimeter in the area and brought in a tracking dog and an additional officer from Southfield police.

“We chased him into yards on Laprarie but the K-9 team couldn’t find him,” Ferndale Police Detective Brendan Moore said, according to The Daily Tribune.

The tracking dog couldn't find a scent trail for Moore, and officers eventually left the area.

About 90 minutes after officers left the scene, a Ferndale women who lives on Allen called police to report that the suspect who police might be searching for just ran from her yard and was heading north, according to The Daily Tribune.

Officers returned to the area, but couldn't immediately locate the suspect.

A second Ferndale resident then approached officers and told them a gold Chevy Impala had been driving around and circling that area.

An officer spotted the gold Impala parked in a lot of an apartment building at Allen Road and Alberta. Officers stopped the car and found Moore lying on the floorboard in the back seat. The car was driven by Moore's girlfriend, police said.

Woods was arraigned Tuesday in Ferndale 43rd District Court and has a bond set at $25,000 cash. He was charged with resisting and obstructing police, which is a 2-year felony, and his 25th charge of driving on a suspended license.

“We can’t be everywhere at once and rely on residents to report suspicious activity and persons,” said Moore. “If these residents hadn’t contacted us we may have never found this suspect.”

Moore is set for a pre-exam conference in Ferndale District Court at 1 p.m. Oct. 6.

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