DETROIT (WXYZ) — A 30-year-old Detroit man has been ordered to stand trial in the alleged drunk driving death of a retired police sergeant who was killed as he tried crossing Jefferson in Detroit with a relative.
- Retired Sterling Heights police sergeant struck, killed by alleged drunk driver in downtown Detroit
- Man charged in fatal car crash that killed retired Sterling Heights police sergeant
Emotional testimony came as the relative of retired Sergeant Daryl Brown was describing seeing his body after getting Jimi Pierowich to stop his car.
“It was moving, coming really fast. I said Daryl that guy is coming fast we gotta back off,” Eric Deigert told the court.
Deigert was with Daryl Brown the morning investigators say brown was hit and killed by Pierowich.
It happened on East Jefferson near Beaubien in Downtown Detroit just days before Christmas.
Investigators say Pierowich was intoxicated behind the wheel when it happened around 2:15 am.
Brown, a retired sergeant from Sterling Heights, had also been drinking but he and Eric were on foot as they tried to cross Jefferson.
Brown's wife, a Macomb County judge, was in court with family and friends by her side. Her cousin is Eric Deigert and he testified that after he heard the impact and didn't see Daryl around, he saw the car that had been speeding by and he figured Daryl was under it.
He ran up to that car and opened the driver's door to make him stop.
“He said what just happened. I said back up back up. He backed up and there was Daryl,” Deigery testified. “There was no movement. There was death.”
After the judge bound over Pierowich on the charge of Operating Under the Influence Causing Death, she changed his relatively low bond to $500,000 dollars cash or surety and Pierowich was handcuffed and taken to jail.
Prosecutors say Pierowich was also convicted of operating under the influence in 2013.
