KALKASKA -- A Detroit police officer faces criminal charges after he allegedly fired a gun from a car window while drunk.
Kalkaska County Prosecutor Brian Donnelly this week charged Michael Arthur Knox, 38, with possession of a firearm while under the influence and reckless use of a firearm, he said.
Knox is from the Detroit suburb of New Hudson and told a Kalkaska County sheriff's deputy he is a Detroit police officer, Undersheriff Bruce Gualtiere said. Sheriff's officials later contacted the Detroit Police Department and confirmed Knox is a police officer there, Gualtiere said.
Detroit police officials could not be reached for comment, and Knox did not return a call for comment.
Knox allegedly fired a semi-automatic handgun out the window of a vehicle traveling down Rapid City Road at about 11 p.m. on May 9. A Kalkaska sheriff's deputy traveling behind the vehicle heard a few "loud pops" and pulled the vehicle over, Gualtiere said.
Knox, who sat in the front passenger side, allegedly was highly intoxicated and admitted to shooting the weapon out the window, Gualtiere said. The driver of the vehicle said Knox fired the gun because he believed they were being tailgated, Donnelly said.
There was no indication Knox aimed at anything in particular as he fired the shots, Donnelly said, and the gun wasn't a service weapon.
Deputies confiscated the gun but didn't arrest Knox, Donnelly said. They didn't make an arrest because they couldn't immediately make contact with the prosecutor's office, Gualtiere said.
The sheriff's department later sent information about the incident to Donnelly for charges.
Three other men were in the vehicle with Knox, Gualtiere said. All were from New Hudson, and Gualtiere said he believed one of the men has a cabin in the area.
Donnelly rarely issues the charge of possessing a firearm while intoxicated, he said, and Knox's job makes this case especially strange.
"It's the kind of thing that you would hope a person with the kind of training and experience a police officer (has) wouldn't do," he said. "It's not good, and we have to take that seriously."
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