KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — An area man with a long record of being dangerous on the road is now being sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
53-year-old Robert Brockman Jr. was sentenced the morning of Monday, January 6th by Kalamazoo County Circuit Judge Gary Giguere to between 1 1/2 and 15 years behind bars for a high speed chase he led officers on over the past summer.
During the incident that spanned 13 miles, Brockman was first located by Michigan State troopers driving the wrong direction down Lake Street in Kalamazoo Township. Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s deputies say they found him hours later driving in Comstock Township around 10 P.M., and began to follow due to his hazardous behavior on the road. At one point police say that Brockman’s vehicle was racing at speeds of up to 90 MPH.
Deputies testified in court that Brockman avoided spiked strips laid out for him twice by driving into ditches around the road. His vehicle was ultimately boxed in by multiple county patrol cars near the crossroads of D Avenue and 28th street in Richland Township.
Following the barricade, the suspect started to ram four of the surrounding vehicles hoping to get away. Sheriff’s deputy Michael Stradel testified that he was standing behind his cruiser pointing a gun a Brockman’s car and shouting at him to stop before he fired a warning shot.
After immediately being taken into custody, Brockman served 159 days of his pending sentence in the Kalamazoo County Jail. During court proceedings the man explained his erratic behavior by saying that he was under the effects of medication. He had previously told a judge at his August 2nd arraignment that he was just trying to bring his dog home during the ordeal.
Brockman pleaded guilty on December 4th to one count of second-degree fleeing and eluding, and one count of malicious destruction of police property. He had previously been found guilty of fleeing and eluding police during a similar incident in 2005.
The sentence given by the judge waived fees resulting from the case, but Brockman is still responsible for $5,886 in property damage from damage to the patrol cars.
