BERRIEN COUNTY, MI -- A roadside fight between two brothers and Michigan State Police Trooper Garry Guild came within inches of ending in death.
On Tuesday, Gobles resident Michael Scott Barber, 21, and his half-brother Travis Tyler Wise, 19 of Middlebury, Ind., were arraigned on multiple felony charges stemming from an assault on Guild. Bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety on Wise and $75,000 cash or surety on Barber.
It started at 8:43 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 20, when Guild attempted to pull over Barber, who was speeding in a stolen motorcycle south on a U.S. 31 bypass near Matthew Road in Berrien Township, police said. Barber reduced his speed and pulled over on the shoulder of the roadway, but quickly accelerated his motorcycle and re-entered the freeway.
Guild, a 21-year veteran of the Michigan State Police, activated his siren and notified dispatch that he was in pursuit of the motorcycle. Around three miles later, Barber pulled into the grassy divider between an exit ramp of the road and began to lose control on the soft footing.
Guild exited his vehicle, and with his weapon drawn ordered Barber to lay on the grass. While his commands fell on deaf ears, Guild surmised that the man was not armed.
Swerving in front of Guild's patrol car, Barber crashed and was thrown from his motorcycle at around 30 mph. Though Barber appeared slightly dazed, Guild said, he sprung to his feet and stumbled toward the trooper.
"He continues toward me and I realized that I can't use deadly force because he's not aggressive and has no weapons," Guild said. "I pushed him away with my left hand, into view of (my vehicle's) dash camera and ordered him to get on the ground."
Escalating situation
Barber began to fall backwards and Guild landed on top of the struggling man, fighting him with one hand while holstering his weapon with the other.
As Guild was wrestling with Barber, the occupant of a passing vehicle threw a bottle at him out the window. Unbeknownst to Guild, the dark four-door sedan, described as a Pontiac Bonneville or Grand Prix, stopped and Wise got out.
Meanwhile, Guild remained engaged with Barber in the grass.
"I'm looking down, straddling while fighting with him and at some point I get knocked back and feel someone around my neck," he said. "I'm put in a choke hold and violently pulled off motorcycle rider, and I don't know where this person came from."
The brother began to choke Guild while Barber got up and ran.
As he is gasping for air, Guild said he began to feel the Wise reaching for his holster.
Fortunately, the weapon somehow became dislodged in the scuffle with Barber, unknown to Wise. Unfortunately, Barber decided to come back and began punching Guild in the face.
"I'm thinking 'alright this is a deadly force situation, I'm going to have to get to my secondary backup weapon,'" Guild said. "At the same time, I'm losing consciousness."
In the nick of time
A well applied carotid artery choke, sometimes known as a "blood choke" for the way the user clamps down on two major veins in the neck, can lead to unconsciousness in a matter of seconds.
"If I'm choked out, they would have potential to have possession of my duty gun and back-up weapon and I'd be laying there helpless," Guild said. "They could do whatever they will do."
Guild began to reach for the secondary handgun on his ankle, but his body was working against him. Without oxygen, his brain started to shutdown, he said.
As the trooper was moments from losing consciousness, two citizens in separate vehicles stopped and came to his rescue. A 50-year-old Plainwell man, whose name police did not release, and Berrien Springs resident Jerry Burnham joined the melee, knocking Wise off Guild.
Lt. Melinda Logan said the two arrived just in time.
"If not for passersby, I don't know what would have happened," Logan said. "Watching the (Guild's dash camera) video, cars kept driving by. It took pretty special people to put themselves at risk."
While Guild handcuffed the motorcyclist, the two citizens subdued his brother. After being restrained and while wearing a seatbelt in Guild's vehicle, the motorcyclist was able to unlock the patrol car's door and escape.
Guild said Michigan State Police vehicles normally don't have cages that separate the front and back seats. The lock on the back doors are controlled by an electronic switch controlled by the driver, which Guild said he must have accidentally unlocked when he rushed out of the vehicle.
Usually, a second trooper monitors suspects in custody so they don't escape, but Logan said the ferocity of the two brothers made the task more difficult.
"They fought the entire time, even when they were in handcuffs," Logan said. "It was a constant go until they got patrol cars (to back them up)."
Barber began to run but was tackled by one of the responding officers who came to back up Guild, and was placed in leg restraints.
The brothers were finally placed in custody with the assistance of the citizens, Buchanan PD, Berrien County Sheriff Department, and Pokagon Tribal Police.
Logan said it was not immediately apparent that the two men were on any drugs or alcohol. They received treatment, as is protocol when a use of force situation occurs, but sustained no injuries.
Guild was treated at a hospital for a compressed throat and injuries to his face and released. He embraced his wife at the hospital and was thankful to make it home that evening.
"You just never know," he said.
Two 'good citizens'
Guild returned to work Tuesday, determined to follow up on the case.
"Frankly, they pissed me off," the trooper said of the brothers. "My adrenaline was so hyped after this, I wanted to make sure I came in got and reports to the prosecutors office to get them arraigned and behind bars."
Barber and Wise were charged Tuesday with assault strangulation, a 10-year felony if convicted, resisting and obstructing a police officer causing injury, a four-year felony, and attempted disarming a police officer, a two-year felony.
Barber is also charged with third-degree fleeing and eluding police, a five-year felony, and receiving and concealing a stolen motor vehicle, a five-year felony.
A preliminary examination on evidence against them is scheduled for March 7 in the Berrien County Trial Court in Niles.
Meanwhile, police are conducting a further investigation into the suspect's connection to the motorcycle, which was reported stolen out of Van Buren County, along with several breaking and entering complaints. Five breaking and entering incidents were reported in Van Buren County, and two more incidents were already being investigated by Michigan State Police.
Guild said that had he known about those incidents and the speeding motorcyclist's possible involvement, he would have approached the situation differently.
"I've been in car chases, I've been in altercations," he said. "As far as I knew I was chasing a lone motorcyclist. My mindset was to survive, remember my training, to stay in the fight and get home."
In the end, Guild said the two citizens made all the difference.
"I later spoke to them and they couldn't understand how someone could drive by and not do anything," Guild said. "They felt it was the part of a good citizen to help police when being attacked."