Christopher Haxel

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - James Akers just wanted to deliver some pizzas.

It was 2 a.m. Sunday on homecoming weekend in East Lansing, and he was set to pick up an order from Georgio’s, a pizza joint about two blocks from the Michigan State University campus.

Akers parked in the alley, leaving the keys in the ignition as he always does. A man approached.

“He was like, 'You need to give me a ride somewhere,’” Akers told the State Journal. “And I said, 'Well I can't give you a ride. I'm a delivery driver.'”

The man was later identified by police as David Finneran, an MSU business major who was celebrating his 21st birthday in soon-to-be extraordinary fashion.

He reeked of alcohol, Akers said, and had been stumbling down the alley earlier that night.

Perhaps, Akers thought, Finneran had confused him for an Uber driver. He continued into the restaurant.

"As soon as I crossed the threshold, I knew something was wrong," Akers said. “Something told me to stop, turn around and go back outside.”

Outside, bystanders were pointing and laughing.

“They were like, 'Man that guy just took off with your car,’” Akers said.

Down the alley, Finneran was slowly driving away in his 2009 Ford Fusion.

Akers is a full-time driver who has delivered for restaurants all over town: pizza, Chinese, burgers, you name it.

So he ran after it.

“He was going about 10 mph at this point,” Akers said. “He still had my emergency brake on, and the hazards. He wasn't aware that those were on with how drunk he was.”

Akers caught up, and grabbed the door handle. The handle ripped off.

“We made eye contact for a moment,” he said. “You could see in his eyes that it had just clicked in his head what he did, and he had gone so far that he wasn't gonna stop.”

Akers reached through the window and grabbed at Finneran’s throat, threatening to call police.

“At that point I fell to the ground,” he said. “I chased after the vehicle but he was going too fast.”

As Akers waited for police at the intersection of Albert and Division streets, Finneran zipped past several times, driving about 40 mph.

“He didn't look like he had a destination,” Akers said. “He looked like he was more or less just having fun going at high speeds. He came across to me as if he was a drunk college student… and his idiot friends were nowhere to be found to look after him.”

Alcohol, followed by a chase

It’s not clear how exactly Finneran spent his Saturday night, or the first couple hours of Sunday, October 16th, his 21st birthday.

But police say he was drunk.

And starting around 2 a.m., his night is described with precision in a lengthy report compiled by officers.

Police spotted Finneran about three blocks from Georgio’s and tried to pull him over.

He slowed, and even stopped briefly, but then “abruptly took off at a high rate of speed.”

Finneran barreled through a stop sign and made a brief off-road sojourn, going over a sidewalk and strip of grass that separates Ann Street and Charles Street.

He then blew through another stop sign, and a red light, before turning west onto East Grand River Boulevard, the thoroughfare that separates downtown from campus.

Finneran swerved left onto the grass median, which caused “significant damage” to the car, before returning to the pavement

As Finneran approached the intersection of East Grand River Boulevard and Abbot Road, a bus and some cars were stopped at the red light. He tried to drive through the intersection anyway.

He sideswiped one car. He rear-ended another.

The Ford then spun around and stopped, too damaged to continue.

Finneran stayed in the car. He "ignored" officers when they demanded he open the car door. Two police officers tried and failed to break a window before he ultimately unlocked the door from the inside.

When officers asked Finneran why he didn’t stop, he told them he thought “he would be able to get away.”

Finneran went to a hospital instead of jail. He was later determined to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.24.

Hangover

In February, Finneran, of Lake Orion, was charged with two felonies, for stealing the car and fleeing police. He also faces two misdemeanors: standard drunk driving, and “super drunk,” which is reserved for drivers with a BAC over 0.17.

He wore a shirt and tie when he went to the police station for fingerprints and a mug shot.

Last week, Finneran waived a preliminary hearing and was bound over for trial in Ingham County Circuit Court, where he now awaits a hearing date.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. His attorney declined to comment.

Akers, the delivery driver, said he drained his savings to buy a new car so he can keep working.

“For a few weeks there, there were some emotional issues,” he said. “I'm definitely more wary of my surroundings when I'm delivering.”

Sina Jahangiri Mamouri, a doctoral student whose car was struck in the crash, said he paid about $7,000 to repair a broken axle and other damages.

Looking back, he said his own misfortune can also be blamed on pizza.

“My friend was trying to convince me to go get tacos,” he told the State Journal. “I was like, 'No let's get a pizza.'”

His car was undriveable after the crash, so the pair ended up walking the few remaining blocks to Domino’s.

“I got my pizza,” he said, laughing. “But the sad part was, I was sitting on the sidewalk eating my pizza with my friend. I was like, 'should we get an Uber or something?' We finally had a friend pick us up.

“That pizza cost like a month of not having a car. It actually cost a lot more than $10.”

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.