Families of two men killed in crash with Warren police speak out after officer charged

SOUTHFIELD, MI (CBS Detroit) — On Monday, the relatives of Cedric Hayden Jr. and Dejuan Pettis voiced their displeasure with the charges brought against a Warren police officer. Hayden and Pettis were killed in a deadly collision.

The family are being represented by attorney James Harrington of Fieger Law, who stated that he thinks the 28-year-old charged officer, James Burke, is racially biased because he is a white police officer.

“What is his standing, and why is he receiving preferential treatment? “He’s a white police officer,” Harrington declared.

Burke was only charged with manslaughter, not second-degree murder, which infuriated Harrington.

Harrington remarked, “These charges are a gross undercharging for what had happened,”

On September 30, Burke’s SUV collided with a car carrying Hayden Jr. and Pettis as he was on patrol close to Schoenherr and Prospect Avenue. On impact, the two men perished.

Burke was charged last week with one count of deliberate neglect and two charges of manslaughter. The families of the victims are furious that he was handed a $100,000 bond.

Shakearia Maye remarked, “You can say justice; we don’t think it was justice,”

“My son is gone; my son is not walking through my door today, tomorrow, or the next day behind that,” Dejuan Pettis’ mother, Charisse Brown, continued.

According to Moore, Pettis’ father died a few days after she found out that her son had died in an automobile accident involving a Warren police officer.

“If I personally would have done that, killed two officers, you would never see me again, but in the penitentiary,” stated Cedric Hayden, Sr.

According to Harrington, he can’t help but believe that Burke is being shielded because he is white and a police officer.

“A white police officer is not charged with second-degree murder after killing two people while driving like a crazy person and receiving a $100,000 personal bond. “I don’t know what will prove it if preferential treatment doesn’t,” Harrington remarked.

Harrington expressed optimism that the Michigan Attorney General’s Office will provide the families with the justice they are due in the future.

“They won’t need my advice to act morally if they are already going to act morally. Modifying the charges is the proper course of action,” he stated.

Detroit is where Gino Vicci was born and reared. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications Magna Cum Laude from Rochester College. He earned a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

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