Caronne Cannon was in his kitchen making food when a stolen car came barreling onto his front lawn on Lenore Street in Detroit, slamming into his truck and pushing it into another vehicle parked in the driveway. His children, he says, were left shaken and terrified, and one of them stayed awake all night afterward, too scared to go back to sleep.
The crash was the end result of a Redford Township police chase that began after a resident called 911 to report several people trying to steal a car near Five Points Street, according to WXYZ Channel 7. The pursuit ended when the stolen car crashed onto Cannon's property, forcing his truck into the other car in his driveway. Police later took a juvenile suspect into custody, and surveillance video reviewed by the station shows the suspect running from the crashed vehicle immediately after the collision.
Cannon Says He Was Told to Call His Own Insurance
Cannon told WXYZ he was furious after seeing the stolen car hit his truck — a vehicle he had already paid to repair out of pocket earlier this year after it was stolen and damaged in a separate incident. When Redford police responded to the scene, he said officers asked him whether he had insurance and told him to handle the damage through his own insurance company rather than through the department.
Cannon says he does not think that is fair, since his vehicle was parked on his own property when it was struck. His stance runs into a legal reality that shapes nearly every case like his in Michigan: under the state's Governmental Tort Liability Act, government agencies are shielded by governmental immunity and are only liable for motor vehicle property damage when it results directly from the negligent physical operation of an agency-owned vehicle by an employee, according to the Michigan Legislature.
A Legal Precedent That Shields Departments From Chase Damage
That immunity is reinforced by a 2000 Michigan Supreme Court ruling in Robinson v. City of Detroit, which found that an officer's decision to pursue a fleeing suspect does not itself count as negligent operation of a vehicle under state law, according to case law compiled by Justia. In practice, that means the fleeing driver, not the pursuing officers, is treated as the legal cause of any resulting crash damage — which is why Redford police directed Cannon toward his own coverage instead of the department's.
Michigan's No-Fault Auto Insurance Act does include a mandatory Property Protection Insurance provision that pays up to $1 million for damage a vehicle causes to tangible property such as parked cars or homes, regardless of fault, per the Michigan Legislature. But that protection typically evaporates when the vehicle involved was stolen. Insurance carriers for stolen vehicles generally deny Property Protection Insurance claims because the car was driven without the owner's consent, according to Michigan Auto Law, leaving property owners like Cannon dependent on their own comprehensive coverage or a civil claim against the suspect.
Family Wants the Department to Take Responsibility
Aiesha Heard, Cannon's family member, said the crash could have hit the family's home instead of just their vehicles. She said she is worried the situation will simply be dismissed and wants the Redford Township Police Department to take accountability for what happened. WXYZ reported that Redford police responded only to say they had not yet heard back from the station after reporters asked what the department planned to do for the family.
The case lands amid a broader statewide reckoning over the risks of police pursuits. National data cited by the Michigan State Police in 2024 shows vehicle pursuits end in crashes at least 30 percent of the time, with 5 to 17 percent resulting in injuries or fatalities. Between 2017 and 2021, 60 people died in pursuit-related crashes across Michigan, a toll that has fueled ongoing legislative debate over tightening chase rules and stiffening penalties for fleeing and eluding, according to Police1.
State Police Already Limit Chases Over Stolen Cars
Those risks prompted the Michigan State Police to revise its own pursuit policy in March 2024, restricting troopers from initiating chases unless there is probable cause to believe an occupant committed a life-threatening or violent felony — a standard that specifically excludes non-violent offenses like auto theft. Redford Township's pursuit, by contrast, was launched over a car theft report, underscoring a gap between state and local pursuit practices even as auto theft remains a persistent problem in the region.
Motor vehicle thefts in Detroit rose 44 percent between 2020 and 2024, the highest rate among six regional peer cities, according to a 2026 report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. Wayne County's vehicle theft rate, at roughly 4.85 per 1,000 residents, is nearly double the statewide average of 2.62 per 1,000, per CrimeGrade data — a backdrop that helps explain why theft calls like the one on Five Points Street remain a frequent challenge for local police, even as chases in response to them carry outsized risk for residents like Cannon's family.
