Police: Driver Nearly Hits Cyclist, Flees Officer, Crashes Into Troy Church

A Troy police officer on patrol just before midnight on Halloween came across a bicycle laying in the intersection of Crooks and Maple roads with the rider standing in the left turn lane.

The cyclist told police that a man driving a pick-up truck was "drunk and almost hit him," according to a media release from the Troy Police Department. Despite the presence of the officer and the patrol vehicle, the pick-up truck driver, who initially was stopped in the left lane, took off southbound on Crooks at a high rate of speed, police said.

The officer could not catch up with the truck due to the speed it was traveling; however, the officer eventually located the unoccupied vehicle, which had crashed into a church at Elmwood Drive and Rochester Road, police said.

A K-9 unit tracked the driver to where he was hiding in a back yard. The 49-year-old Clarkston man "smelled of intoxicants and had slurred speech," according to the media release. He was admitted to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A blood test was administered and charges are pending against the driver, who has one previous drinking and driving arrest.