By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- A Macomb County jury found former Warren Police Officer James Burke not guilty Thursday on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two additional charges stemming from a September 2024 crash that killed Cedric Hayden Jr., 34, and DeJuan Pettis, 33.
- The jury deliberated approximately two hours across two days before returning verdicts in Macomb Circuit Court in Mount Clemens before Judge Jennifer Faunce.
- Evidence presented at trial established that Burke’s Ford Explorer struck Hayden’s Dodge Durango at 94 mph — down from 115 mph five seconds before impact after braking — as Burke accelerated to locate a vehicle flagged by a Flock license plate reader as a suspected armed robbery getaway car.
- Defense attorney Marc Curtis argued that Hayden bore responsibility for the crash due to his crossing of double-center lines, failure to signal, and a blood alcohol content of 0.198%; prosecution argued Burke’s decision to exceed 100 mph on a public road was grossly negligent and criminal.
- Burke was also acquitted of a moving violation causing serious injury to his partner, Officer Michael Rodolfo, who was a passenger in the police vehicle, and willful neglect of duty; two civil lawsuits filed by the victims’ families remain pending.
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. — A Macomb County jury on Thursday acquitted former Warren Police Officer James Burke of all charges — including two counts of involuntary manslaughter — in connection with a September 2024 high-speed crash that killed two men during an early-morning vehicle pursuit on Schoenherr Road in Warren.
The verdict came after roughly two hours of deliberations spread over two days. Burke, who was 28 at the time of the crash and has since left the Warren Police Department, faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on each of the two manslaughter counts. He was also acquitted of a moving violation causing serious injury and willful neglect of duty. He had been free on personal bond throughout the proceedings.
The crash occurred at approximately 4:56 a.m. on September 6, 2024, when a Flock license plate reader flagged a vehicle connected to recent ATM robberies in the area. Burke accelerated to locate the car, reaching a speed of 115 mph before braking to 94 mph in the seconds before impact at the intersection of Schoenherr Road and Prospect Avenue. His police Explorer struck a Dodge Durango driven by Cedric Hayden Jr. in the left turn lane. Hayden and his passenger, DeJuan Pettis, were both killed. Officer Michael Rodolfo, Burke’s partner riding in the police vehicle, sustained injuries.
Defense attorney Marc Curtis argued to jurors that the cause of the collision was Hayden’s decision to cross double-center lines, his failure to activate a left-turn signal, and his blood alcohol content of 0.198% — factors Curtis characterized as a superseding, intervening cause that absolved Burke of criminal liability. Curtis said Burke was performing a legitimate law enforcement function based on the information available to him at the time. “Officers are human, they’re not robots,” Curtis said. “They have to make decisions on information they receive in seconds.”
Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor Corey Newman countered that Burke’s choice to travel at more than 100 mph on a public road constituted gross negligence regardless of the circumstances that prompted the pursuit. “The defendant made choices, and in this case those choices were criminal,” Newman said in closing arguments. The prosecution argued that without Burke’s decision to accelerate to those speeds, neither Hayden nor Pettis would have died.
Families of both victims were present in a courtroom described as filled to capacity. As jurors were dismissed following the verdict, one individual in support of the victims’ families voiced dissatisfaction aloud before exiting. Two civil lawsuits filed by the families of Hayden and Pettis against Burke and the City of Warren remain pending.