Parole absconder to stand trial for standoff with police
A Midland man accused of breaking into a Chippewa Township home and demanding guns or keys from the owner and then holding police at bay with a shotgun will stand trial.
Steven Carl Turner, 30, waived his right to a hearing to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to send him to trial. The hearing was scheduled for Thursday and
Turner waived it shortly before its scheduled 10:30 a.m. start time, Isabella County Trial Court Administrator Kerri Curtiss said Thursday morning.
Turner, listed as a parole absconder from Midland County, is accused of breaking into a home on North Lakeside Drive late last month. The homeowner came out to find Turner, who was spotted in the vicinity the day before, in his kitchen.
Turner demanded keys or drugs from the man before running upstairs, according to court records. The homeowner fled for his son’s nearby house.
After police arrived, the homeowner told them there was a shotgun in the upstairs, so police set up a perimeter around the house.
Turner started yelling at them, and blew out a window with a shotgun blast, according to court records. He continued to scream at police officers until he struck up a conversation with a Saginaw Chippewa Tribal police sergeant.
He ejected two shells from the shotgun and put it on the windowsill with the butt pointing out, and went to get a bowl of water for the police dog with the sergeant.
Other officers at the scene approached Turner, who started to run. The sergeant loosed the dog, which bit Turner several times. The sergeant restrained the dog, and MMR treated Turner on the scene. Another officer was mildly injured.
Police inspected the house, and found the door frame cracked and the homeowner’s possessions in disarray.
Turner was charged with first degree home invasion, which potentially carries a life sentence; firing a gun in a building, a 10-year felony; possession of a gun by a felon, a five-year felony; three counts of resisting/ fighting officers, a four-year felony; and four counts of using a gun in the commission of a felony, which tacks on two additional years to run consecutively to the underlying crime.