Court Watching: Paul Johnson bound over after lying about name, running from PD

After a preliminary exam before 34th District Court Judge Brian A. Oakley, Paul Wayne Johnson, 50, of Sumpter Township, was bound over to circuit court for a Dec. 18 arraignment on the information.
Johnson is charged with two counts of assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer and one count of giving false identification to a police officer on Nov. 16 in Sumpter Township. He is lodged in the Wayne County Jail on bond of $5,000/10%.
Court records show Johnson having 17 aliases.
Sumpter Officer Jesiah Rodrigeuz was the first witness in the exam, called by Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Krystal Murphy.
He testified he has worked six months for the Sumpter Township Police Department and at 6:48 p.m. on Nov. 16 he was on road patrol in uniform and in a marked vehicle at the corner of Rawsonville and Willis roads in a parking lot across from Mobil.
Officer Rodrigeuz testified he stopped a brown Lincoln that did not stop coming out from the service station and had no attached plate. The car contained a driver and a passenger. The defendant was the passenger.
Officer Rodrigeuz testified that the driver did not have a driver’s license, so the officer arrested the driver and put him in the back of his patrol car and called for backup. Sgt. Joseph Balowski responded about five minutes later and they both interacted with the defendant.
“I asked for his name and he said Bobby Johnson with a birthdate of 4-11-68,” Rodrigeuz testified. The name was checked on LEIN (Law Enforcement Information Network) and there were no matches, Rodrigeuz said.
He said both officers made contact with him again and asked dispatch to seek information.
“I asked the defendant where he grew up and where he lived,” Rodrigeuz said, noting dispatch was looking for information.
Rodrigeuz said the defendant came out of the vehicle and closed the passenger door. He said the sergeant and the defendant were in conversation. He did a pat down on the defendant and began the tow process on the car.
Then, Rodrigeuz said, Sgt. Balowski called out, “He’s running” and he was running south on Rawsonville.
“I engaged in a footrace,” Rodrigeuz said, adding the sergeant tried to use the taser. Then the defendant ran eastbound into a driveway, Rodrigeuz testified. The sergeant was calling out, “Please stop, please stop,” the officer said.
Then, Sgt. Balowski tased him and Rodrigeuz pushed him to the ground and grabbed his left hand and the sergeant got his right arm, according to the testimony.
“I handcuffed both arms while he was face down,” Rodrigeuz said. When asked to estimate the distance, Rodrigeuz said it was about a football field – 100 yards – south on Rawsonville and then 30 yards in the drive.
He said they had continued to question the defendant because he had given them a false name.
Sgt. Balowski was the next witness and he said he has worked for Sumpter PD since 2013 and as a sergeant since July.
He testified the driver had a suspended license, so Rodrigeuz arrested him.
Sgt. Balowski said the defendant identified himself as Bobby Lee Johnson with a birthdate of 4-11-68, but there were no results in LIEN. He testified the defendant said that was his true name. “We talked at length and he said that was his true name and he was not lying,” Balowski said.
“I did not believe he was who he said he was,” Balowski said, adding he told him to put his hands behind his back and he ran south on Rawsonville Road.
He testified he called out, “Stop, Police,” and deployed a taser, which was ineffective. He said he told him to stop multiple times, more than 10.
“Officer Rodrigeuz is quite the runner,” Balowski said. “He [the defendant] said, ‘I’m down’ while still moving. He was taken to the ground.”
Balowski said the defendant had a parole warrant.
Under cross examination from court-appointed defense attorney Nanci Kastaw, Balowski testified he was on Sumpter Road south of Willis when he got the call for backup and he arrived in about five minutes. It was 20-30 minutes before the defendant ran.
“I was sure he was not telling the truth,” Balowski testified. “He said he had an ID card, but it was not with him. He was arrested for false ID.” Balowski said his department’s policy is to tow vehicles with unlicensed drivers.
“He was looking up and down the roadway in a suspicious manner,” Balowski said.
Prosecutor Murphy made a motion to bind Johnson over on the two felony counts with the third misdemeanor count.
Defense attorney Kastaw said her client was not under arrest and free to leave.
“He was checking out the surrounding area to see where he was going to go when he ran,” Judge Oakley said.
“There was no criminal conduct,” Kastaw persisted. “No reason to keep the defendant.
Prosecutor Murphy said the first two counts are felonies. “He was under arrest and he ran. There was false ID.”
Judge Oakley bound him over to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice on Dec. 18.