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candgnews.com AUGUST 6, 2025 Vol. 36, No. 16
SPOTLIGHT ON Auto dealers discuss BUSINESS /6A the latest in the industry
Prosecutor pushes for tougher penalties for those who flee
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Art Siebert, left, and Jerry Boekhout, reconnected after about 60 years while walking together at the Sterling Heights Community Center. Photo by Brian Wells
BY BRIAN WELLS bwells@candgnews.com
STERLING HEIGHTS — In response to what he said is a growing number of drivers fleeing from police, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido is calling for legislation that would impose stricter penalties on drivers who refuse to stop. “Every time someone runs, they roll the dice with innocent lives,” Lucido said in a statement. “We need statutory enhancement of consequences including mandatory prison time. The people of the state of Michigan deserve to be protected.”
The cases
A jury recently found a Detroit man guilty of hitting and killing a pregnant woman and her unborn son and causing serious injuries to her husband and son while fleeing police. At 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2023, Travion Smith, who was 16 years old at the time, was driving a Chevy Equinox northbound on Van Dyke near the intersection of 15 Mile Road. According to Macomb County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Robert Leonetti, Smith was driving in an erratic fashion. He cut off a patrol car, drove with turn signals on without making a turn and
‘YOU FIND YOUR COMMONALITIES’ TWO MEN RECONNECT AT STERLING HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER AFTER MORE THAN 60 YEARS BY BRIAN WELLS bwells@candgnews.com
STERLING HEIGHTS — Several times a week, Jerry Boekhout and Art Siebert join a group of people who walk at the Sterling Heights Community Center. The two had been walking together for about a year, but it wasn’t until recently, after a bit of back-and-forth conversation, they realized
they shared a connection. It started with them asking where they grew up — both responded that they lived on Fisher Street in Detroit. Eventually, they realized they grew up together in the same neighborhood and went to school together, Boekhout said. “We just started talking out here, and then it just clicked,” he said. When they were in second grade — about See RECONNECT on page 5A
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