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Video: Northville Police Chase of Suspected Arsonist

Watch a video from the Northville Township police cruiser that chased down the suspect in three arson cases.

Northville Township police were involved in a car chase Tuesday morning that ended with the suspect being fatally shot by a Michigan State Police trooper.

This video, courtesy of the Northville Township Department of Public Safety, is from the dashboard video camera in a township police cruiser.

The first seconds of the video shows the police investigating a car fire on Napier Road north of Six Mile Road in Northville Township around 2 a.m. The video then shows the police stopping 18-year-old Gabriel Vernon Stevenson of Ypsilanti in a pick-up truck.

Township police then shout back and forth with Stevenson, asking him a series of questions. When the officer asks Stevenson to get out of the car with his hands up, Stevenson turns and fires shots at the officers. Stevenson then gets back in his car and drives away.

The video then shows the police pursuing Stevenson in a car chase that lasts for several minutes until Stevenson crashes his car into a house at Six Mile and Dixboro roads.

The video then shows Stevenson trying to break into the house while the officers, now joined by Michigan State Police, order him to the ground.

After the video ends, Stevenson came toward the police officers with a knife and was fatally shot by a state trooper.

Northville Township Director of Public Safety John Werth said the shooting did not occur on video as Stevenson and the officers were behind the police cruiser at that time.

Read the full story of the incident by clicking here.


Follow Northville Patch on Facebook and Twitter for more updates.

Editor's Note: Several minutes of the car chase footage have been edited out for time. The video contains language that might offend some people.

Connie February 15, 2013 at 12:28 pm
OMG such brave men and women who help keep us safe everyday!!
Steve February 15, 2013 at 12:46 pm
I want to thank the men and woman who keep us safe every day, rain or shine, good or bad. Your service may seem like it is appreciated, however we sleep better at night knowing you are out there doing an keeping our community safe. THANK YOU!!!!!
Michelle Estes February 15, 2013 at 03:21 pm
Scary & highly commendable! Proud to be a Northville resident and protected by these men & women. Thank you and much appreciation for a job well done.
ML Banks February 15, 2013 at 05:07 pm
Greatly appreciate the work of the Northville PD keeping the community safe, putting themselves in harms way for the safety of others. Thank you to them and their families for the sacrifice.
Denise Nash February 15, 2013 at 06:45 pm
Holy Cow!!! Job well done!
Hairman February 17, 2013 at 03:53 pm
This should be on ALL tv channels @ 6:00 pm. What a GREAT crime prevention
video for the Northville communities.
Connie Knie February 17, 2013 at 09:24 pm
God Bless our men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. It is videos like this that need to be EVERYWHERE when the government begins to talk about cutting the budgets and goes for our police and fire departments.....
Debra L. Van Buren February 18, 2013 at 01:15 am
Decent video coverage from the Police cruiser. Interesting to watch, and informative to the layman. Nice subsequent ending . . .
vivi February 20, 2013 at 03:16 pm
Wow, I know most of us think of this as being such a safe community, but the police never know when something like this will happen - all the scarier! Thanks for such good work, NTPD!

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