MT. CLEMENS (WWJ) An Eastpointe man has been arraigned on charges of assaulting and carjacking an elderly woman in a Walmart parking lot.
Prosecutors said Jason Graves, 37, approached the victim in a Walmart parking lot in Sterling Heights, threw her out of her Jeep and drove away in the victim's car.
It happened last Saturday (November 12) at the Walmart on Mound near M-59.
Police found the stolen Jeep in a parking lot at a nearby Super 8 Motel.
“When police officers attempted to apprehend and arrest the suspect one officer who feared for his life had to fire his weapon at the suspect,” prosecutors said.
The suspect got away and crashed into an “uninvolved vehicle” on 15 Mile Road, where police arrested Graves.
Graves was not hurt.
Graves has been charged with carjacking—which carries a life sentence—fleeing and eluding (five year felony), felonious assault (four year felony), resisting and obstructing, a two year felony.
Judge Wiegand, of Sterling Heights District Court, set a $20,000 cash/surety bond, no 10%.
“This madness needs to stop,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said. “The defendant is looking at life in prison for the senseless violence of stealing a car from an elderly woman,”
Graves is due back in court for a probable cause hearing on Wednesday.