A rookie Wyandotte police officer nearing the end of field training deployed the department's net-launching Grappler device around 11 p.m. last Tuesday to stop a 32-year-old woman driving a stolen car at a high rate of speed, according to police. Officers say she was also found in possession of crack cocaine after the pursuit ended.
The incident began when officers initiated a traffic stop in Wyandotte, and the driver sped off, prompting police to pursue her, according to FOX 2 Detroit. The rookie officer used the Grappler to disable the vehicle, ending the chase without a crash or high-speed collision. Police say the woman was charged with fleeing and eluding police and possession of crack cocaine.
According to police, the driver was on probation for previous convictions and had a lengthy record that included prior arrests for felony fleeing and eluding, felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle, felony assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. The Wyandotte Police Department said in a statement that police work like this prevents community members from finding stolen cars, broken-into work trucks, or burglarized houses.
A Tool Wyandotte Has Leaned On Before
This was not the department's first high-profile use of the device. In May, Wyandotte officers deployed the Grappler during a multi-city pursuit to catch a parolee with prior convictions for armed robbery and animal torture, after two neighboring police departments had already called off their own chases over safety concerns, according to the same account from the outlet that first reported that incident. The department cited that capture when pushing state lawmakers to adopt tougher penalties for repeat offenders who flee police.
Wyandotte became only the second municipal department in Michigan to equip its patrol fleet with the Grappler system, rolling it out in October 2025 after evaluating the technology for 18 months, per the report. The Livonia Police Department was the first in the state to adopt the device, successfully using it on Interstate 96 in September 2025 to stop a stolen vehicle. The Grappler was invented in 2016 by Arizona entrepreneur Leonard Stock of Stock Enterprises LLC, and it works by launching a spring-loaded nylon net from a patrol car's bumper that wraps around a fleeing vehicle's rear axle, locking the wheel and tethering it to the pursuing cruiser. As of early 2025, more than 65 law enforcement agencies nationwide, including departments across California, Nevada, Ohio, Florida, and Michigan, had adopted the device as a lower-risk alternative to the PIT maneuver.
Chases Have Surged as Lansing Debates Mandatory Minimums
Wyandotte Police Chief Archie Hamilton reported in May that high-speed chases in the city have surged more than 500 percent over the past decade, climbing from four or five pursuits a year to as many as four or five in a single weekend. Hamilton has said suspects often take calculated risks, betting that departmental pursuit policies will force officers to call off a chase before it escalates.
That surge has fueled Hamilton's support for Michigan House Bill 4690, introduced by Rep. Rylee Linting and passed by the Michigan House in October 2025, which would set mandatory minimum prison terms for fleeing and eluding convictions, including 182 days for fourth-degree offenses and five years for first-degree offenses. Current Michigan law carries no statutory mandatory minimum jail sentence for the crime. Under existing Michigan Penal Code § 750.479a, fleeing and eluding a uniformed officer in a marked patrol car is already a tiered felony, with penalties ranging up to two years for fourth-degree offenses and up to 15 years in prison plus a $15,000 fine if a death results from a first-degree offense.
Local police have pointed to cases like this month's Wyandotte arrest, and Hoodline previously reported on Hamilton's push for the legislation, as evidence that repeat offenders with multiple fleeing arrests continue driving away from officers with little deterrent under current sentencing rules. The prosecution of stolen vehicle cases and related fleeing incidents across Metro Detroit is also backed by the expanded Michigan State Police Metro Detroit Auto-Theft Recovery Team and the Attorney General's Auto Fraud Task Force, which coordinate across municipal departments to track stolen car networks in Wayne County.
