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MSP: Stolen car crashes in Montcalm Co; driver then swipes a pickup truck

Posted at 7:47 PM, Feb 21, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-21 19:53:12-05

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.  — Michigan State Police say the driver of a car stolen in Grand Rapids crashed it along U.S. 131 early Thursday morning in Montcalm County. And then, got out and stole a pickup truck belonging to a Good Samaritan who stopped along the road to see if he was okay.

The chain of events began around 2 a.m. Renee Mickam tells FOX 17 her husband, Rick Mickam, was on his way home from work when he saw a vehicle go whizzing by him on northbound US-131. Not long after that, Rick came across the vehicle on its side in a ditch along the freeway, south of the Pierson exit.

Renee says, “My husband stopped (and) asked the man if he was okay…and helped him get out of the vehicle. The man was kind of yelling, ‘Don’t call 911!”. My husband tried to tell the man he was (already) on the phone with a dispatcher and ‘(police) will be here in one to two minutes’.”

While her husband was on the phone, she says the man jumped into her husband’s GMC Sierra pickup truck and sped away. Lieutenant Kevin Sweeney with the Michigan State Police post in Lakeview tells FOX 17 in an email: “The suspect drove north from the location, if I recall correctly. I don’t have suspect info at this time. The car that crashed was stolen out of GR”.

There was no update available on the current whereabouts of the stolen pickup. Rick Mickam works a night-time shift at his job in Grand Rapids, and wasn’t immediately available for an interview.

Renee Mickam says her husband was apprised Grand Rapids Police detectives are looking into a possible small group of people that’s been stealing vehicles in the area recently. FOX 17 has contacted GRPD for information about that, and will pass it along when it becomes available.

Meanwhile, Lt. Sweeney says MSP is treating the incident along US-131 in Montcalm County as a stolen-vehicle case as opposed to a carjacking, “as there was no force” involved.

Renee says a stranger who witnessed part of the incident ended up giving Rick a ride home.