The Brief
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A car’s rear axle was ripped off when a driver tried to flee while a net, called a grappler, was wrapped around the car’s wheels.
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Livonia police used the grappler on I-96 after learning MSP troopers were following a stolen car in their city.
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The driver and two passengers were arrested.
LIVONIA, Mich. (FOX 2) – What started with police tracking a stolen car ended with the rear axle being ripped from that car as the driver tried to escape Livonia police’s grappler.
The grappler, new technology being utilized by the Metro Detroit department, uses a net to grab a vehicle’s rear tires to stop it.
Watch video of police using the grappler above.
The backstory
According to Michigan State Police, troopers on patrol in Detroit around 7:25 a.m. Thursday spotted a stolen Chevrolet Cruze and began following the vehicle. The driver, later identified as a 27-year-old Brighton man, got onto westbound I-96 and continued driving into Livonia.
Troopers called Livonia police, who have a new tool, called a grappler, that uses a net to grab a vehicle’s rear tires to stop it. Livonia officers responded and deployed the grappler on the freeway near Levan.
Learn more about the grappler here.
MSP said the driver tried to keep going after the grappler captured the tires, causing the rear axle to be ripped off the Cruze.
The driver and his two female passengers were both arrested.
No one was hurt.
