The man accused of driving his Mercedes-Benz sedan through the glass doors of Detroit Metro Airport's McNamara Terminal in January has pleaded guilty to a felony charge, but not for that crash. Brian Sutton, 37, of Clinton Township, entered a guilty plea on August 28 to one count of aggravated stalking in a separate case out of Westland, according to police, while prosecutors continue reviewing whether to file charges over the airport incident itself.
Sutton's guilty plea, first reported by ClickOnDetroit, resolves a case that began when Westland police arrested him on February 13 on a charge of aggravated stalking. That arrest came about three weeks after the airport crash that first put his name in headlines. Sutton was identified by law enforcement as the driver behind the wheel when a car smashed through McNamara Terminal's entrance, according to FOX 2 Detroit.
The January 23 crash unfolded around 7:30 p.m., when Sutton drove a 2024 Mercedes-Benz 300 sedan in the far-left lane before making a sharp 90-degree turn, according to CBS News Detroit. The vehicle smashed through glass entrance doors and struck a Delta Air Lines ticketing desk inside the terminal, which sits in Wayne County and serves as a major hub exclusively for Delta, its SkyTeam alliance partners, and WestJet within an airport system that handled over 16 million passenger enplanements in 2024, per background compiled by the Michigan Legislature.
Chaos Inside the Terminal
Sutton nearly hit travelers inside the terminal before the car came to a stop at the Delta counter. Surveillance and eyewitness footage showed him wearing an Amon-Ra St. Brown Detroit Lions jersey, shouting inside the terminal, and attempting to run toward a TSA checkpoint before officers tackled him, according to the report from PYOK. Police arrested him at the scene, and officials said he was experiencing a mental health crisis, per police.
That crisis reportedly deepened in the weeks that followed. In February, a Macomb County probate judge ordered Sutton into a 180-day mental health treatment program, including up to 60 days in a residential facility, after a hospital social worker's petition noted he had been awake for 10 days, according to Deadline Detroit. The order offers a civil-court window into the mental state authorities have pointed to in connection with both the airport crash and his later arrest.
Two Separate Legal Tracks
Following his February 13 arrest in Westland, Sutton was arraigned in 18th District Court before Judge Michael McNamara, who set a $250,000 cash or surety bond with mandatory GPS tethering and a no-contact order, the report notes. His guilty plea in that case now sets up an October 2 sentencing date, when he is expected to face penalties tied to Michigan's aggravated stalking statute. Under Michigan Penal Code Section 750.411i, the felony carries up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, and up to five years or more of probation, according to the Michigan Legislature.
The airport crash remains a separate matter entirely. The Wayne County Airport Authority Police Department requested criminal charges against Sutton, including operating while intoxicated, reckless driving, aggravated assault, and malicious destruction of business property exceeding $20,000, per CBS News Detroit. As of early September, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has kept that warrant request under review, and no criminal charges have been filed over the terminal crash itself, according to police.
Airport Security Overhauled, Then Tested Again
The crash prompted immediate changes at DTW. The Wayne County Airport Authority installed temporary 9,000-pound concrete barriers around terminal entrances while engineers began evaluating permanent crash-rated bollards compatible with the terminal bridge's weight limits, CBS News Detroit reported. Those upgrades followed an earlier Hoodline report on the barriers installed in the crash's immediate aftermath.
The perimeter vulnerability exposed by Sutton's crash did not stay resolved for long. On May 29, four months after the McNamara Terminal incident, a 67-year-old man experiencing a mental health crisis drove a black SUV through the glass entrance of DTW's Warren Evans Terminal before being detained, according to ClickOnDetroit. The repeat breach underscored how the airport's perimeter defenses remained a recurring concern even after the January crash forced a security review.
