SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — It was a wild Wednesday that witnesses outside of Johnny Blacks Taphouse in Shelby Township won’t soon forget.
That night, a man drove recklessly without regard for human life nor property. A video shows the driver plowing into vehicles as people rush to avoid getting run over.
Cell phone video of Shelby Township ramming incident
Edward Firestine, operations manager at Johnny Blacks said, “He was not a patron. He came from another business in the plaza, got in his car, and all of a sudden all chaos broke loose.”
Just prior to the recording, Firestine said the man was spotted crashing into a few cars intentionally on the side of the building. Someone alerted the restaurant crew which then called 911.
Also prior to making his way around the parking lot, Firestine said, "He was yelling some obscure things that... just shouting random things at people out here that were leaving.”
Despite being wedged within a relatively tight space, police said the driver got away on foot but he didn’t get far.
Shelby Township sergeant Kevin Bailey said, “(Patrons) were able to point him out. He located the gentleman. The officer’s built like a linebacker and was able to apprehend him and take him into custody without any further incident.”
Body cam video of Shelby Township ramming incident arrest
Bailey said Smajlaj damaged a total of 9 vehicles. That’s 9 counts of malicious destruction of property that he’s been charged with, along with one count of felonious assault with a deadly weapon. That weapon is his truck.
He's also been charged with one count of reckless driving. The sergeant tells 7 News Detroit more charges could come based on the toxicology report.
“We’re still trying to figure out if drugs or alcohol played any part in how his mental state was at that time,” Bailey explained.
The sergeant said, “Not sure where he was coming from or the reason why he was there.”
That’s part of the investigation, but the most important factor in all of this is no one got hit.
Firestine said, “There were no injuries.”
“Safety is the most important thing,” he added.
Bailey said, “Cars can be replaced. People can’t. We’re happy that our officers were there, able to apprehend him quick enough before he was able to do any other damage or injure anyone.”
