LAKE COUNTY, Mich. — A Grand Rapids man was arraigned Monday on charges related to kicking a Michigan Department of Natural Resources officer in the head while trying to escape custody.
Devinci Osiris Dumas, 21, was arraigned in Lake County District Court, according to a news release Tuesday.
The charges stem from a March 20 car crash that happened east of Luther and west of U.S. 131.
The DNR officer credits two passersby with saving his life.
Dumas did not enter a plea in court Monday after being arraigned on several charges, including assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder or by strangulation, malicious destruction of fire or police property, resisting and obstructing a conservation officer, escape from lawful custody and being a habitual offender, second offense.
He’s scheduled to return to court at 1:30 p.m. on April 5 for a probable cause conference.
Lake County dispatchers contacted DNR Conservation Officer Josiah Killingbeck just before 10 a.m. on March 20.
They asked him to respond to a report of a vehicle in a swamp, located near 3 Mile and Hawkins roads.
Killingbeck arrived at the scene and found a Saturn Vue had failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection, had gone airborne for a short distance and was now about 150 off the north side of the intersection.
Dumas and Hannah Marie Holcomb, 19, of Dorr were found in the vehicle.
Neither were injured in the crash.
Killingbeck placed Dumas under arrest after an initial investigation for open intoxicants in a vehicle and providing false information to a peace officer.
Dumas was put into the front passenger seat of Killingbeck’s patrol truck. He was handcuffed behind his back and the seat belt was secured around him.
Not long after Killingbeck began driving to the Lake County Jail in Baldwin, Dumas freed himself from the safety belt and began to attack Killingbeck by turning himself in the seat so he could kick the conservation officer multiple times.
Two passersby stopped at the scene and were able to help Killingbeck restrain Dumas.
Killingbeck was taken to Spectrum Health Big Rapids Hospital for evaluation, where he was later released.
“This incident illustrates the type of danger our officers can encounter while on patrol,” said Lt. Joe Molnar of the DNR’s Law Enforcement Division. “Fortunately, this situation was resolved without more serious consequences.”
