MSU employee, East Lansing resident dies in chase
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After leading police in a high-speed chase, 20-year-old East Lansing resident and MSU employee Carl Stamm died in a motorcycle crash at 4:20 a.m. Tuesday in Livingston County, Livingston County Sheriff Bob Bezotte said.
A Livingston County police deputy clocked the motorcyclist driving 104 mph on westbound I-96 near Mason Road and pursued, Bezotte said. Another deputy clocked Stamm driving 114 mph and joined the chase, he said.
Traffic was “fairly heavy for that time in the morning,” Bezotte said. During the chase, several semitrucks were forced to move off the road to avoid collision, he said.
Stamm slowed to 100 mph after police caught up with him and turned on their lights but sped up again, the sheriff said.
Officers called several departments to assist, Bezotte said. When a Fowlerville police car pulled onto the expressway, Stamm was unable to avoid the car and crashed, Bezotte said. No officers were injured, but the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
The Fowlerville police car — valued at $25,000 — was totalled in the crash, Bezotte said. The officer involved in the crash was “emotionally distraught” and was put on administrative leave, he said.
“It’s not easy when you see something like that happen,” he said.
Stamm worked at Kellogg Center in the Banquet Department while he was taking classes, Kellogg Center General Manager Joel Heberlein said.
Stamm studied kinesiology at Lansing Community College, or LCC, before the accident, said Rashid Robinson, director of academic and institutional policy at LCC.
It is unknown why Stamm chose to flee and not pull over, Bezotte said. Although the autopsy and toxicology reports have not been released, it is not believed that alcohol was a factor in the crash, Bezotte said.
Although Stamm received a ticket for speeding in 2009, his driving record otherwise was clean, Bezotte said.
He was wearing a helmet during the crash and had a motorcycle license.
If Stamm pulled over, the maximum penalty would have been four points on his license and a $250 fine, Bezotte said.
Driving at high speeds, Stamm was a danger to himself and other drivers, Bezotte said.
“When you do this, hopefully you get the motorcycle to stop,” he said. “It’s nobody’s intention for anybody to get hurt.”
Commentary
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Mike
(05/18/11 11:49pm)Report
Sarah, did you forget you already wrote and published a nearly identical article about this? Why do we need two?
Mike
(05/18/11 11:50pm)Report
Correction: Summer, not Sarah. My apologies.
aoluser
(05/19/11 9:03am)Report
The police should have stopped chasing and let him go. They just created more danger to the public by weaving through traffic over 100mph. Pay more effort to catch the bank robber
Joann Lamport
(05/19/11 9:45am)Report
Stop high speed chases – it puts people in danger. This person would be alive if overzealous cops weren’t out being macho. And, what has happened to the tasers? It seems the police just start shooting and that is really scary.
Ben
(05/19/11 10:02am)Report
Extremely sad story. It makes you wonder what went through the police officer’s head when getting in front of motorcycle doing 140 mph. No place in this story for the value of the police cruiser that was damaged.
who gives a...
(05/19/11 11:25am)Report
crap about the police car being totaled or how shaken up the officer was?? The poor boy lost his life… regardless of poor decision making on either parties, my heart is so sad for his family and friends.
amanda
(05/19/11 3:23pm)Report
The tone of this article is infuriating… “No officers were injured, but the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.” Oh thank god we cleared that up, no officers were injured… oh wait but someone died.
here’s the police video: http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20110519/NEWS01/105190312/Officers-Crash-victim-hit-140-mph-motorcycle-full-pursuit-video-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
MaximumBob
(05/19/11 8:00pm)Report
I’m saddened by the loss of the cruiser.
Murder him for ALLEGED SPEEDING???
(05/20/11 5:42pm)Report
Maybe his throttle was stuck. We will never know because a police man MURDERED another human being for allegedly speeding. WHY ELSE did the police officer pull his car directly in the path of the motorcycle? To kill him!
MaximumBob
(05/21/11 4:51pm)Report
The local police and Mr. Stamm were in agreement here.
BOTH thought a speeding ticket was worth Mr. Stamm’s life.
@MaximumBob
(05/21/11 5:56pm)Report
Normally your comments are just ridiculous, and you’re obviously on here just to get people riled up behind the comfortable veil of anonymity. However, in this case, you make a good point.
@SN
(05/22/11 1:36am)Report
SN, I am disappointed you have not advertised this article much. This is a big deal and I wish you would spend more time/resources to this article.
uh
(05/22/11 8:06am)Report
Running from the police is a crime. I am saddened that this person died, however, the police were just doing their job. The motorcyclist would be alive today if he didn’t run. Everyone posting these ridiculous posts about the police “murdering” him or being “overzealous” sound absolutely moronic.
@Kyle
(05/22/11 7:12pm)Report
Actually, it does sound pretty racist. You assume that because someone from Mexico is here illegally they are automatically a violent criminal who will rape and murder people?
I don’t know what relationship you had with the speeder in this case, but your reaction is completely and utterly irrational.
@uh
(05/22/11 8:01pm)Report
I completely agree. While my heart goes out to the friends and family of the victim, we must remember that these police officers were doing their job. Had this article been about a drunk speeding motorcyclist (who the cops just “let be”) who then exited the highway and ran over a pedestrian and killed them, I would bet everybody’s opinion on the officer would change.
Rob Rodriguez
(05/24/11 10:04am)Report
He broke the law, and he faced the consequences. The cops did exactly what they were supposed to do.
This young man committed suicide, and he was damn close to killing some. Good job by the police officers in stopping this public menace.