By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published October 31, 2017

Gerald Day — a suspect in home invasions and other crimes in the Grosse Pointes — sits in Grosse Pointe Farms Municipal Court with his attorney, Christine Grand, for a preliminary examination Oct. 25. Behind, Farms Public Safety officer Richard Rosati is one of the officers guarding the court. Photo by K. Michelle Moran


GROSSE POINTE CITY/GROSSE POINTE FARMS — He may no longer be facing charges in Grosse Pointe City, but Gerald Day, 28, of Detroit, is still facing several charges in neighboring Grosse Pointe Farms for home invasion and other offenses.

During what was supposed to be a preliminary examination Oct. 24 in City Municipal Court in front of Judge Russell Ethridge, the charges against Day were dropped after the 12-year-old victim in the case decided not to take the witness stand against the man who allegedly tried to sexually assault her in her home.

“The people are not ready to proceed,” said Melissa Palepu, a Wayne County assistant prosecuting attorney. “The victim is not ready to go forward.”

Day’s court-appointed defense attorney, Christine Grand, made a motion to dismiss the City charges against her client, and the court agreed.

“The court will dismiss this matter without prejudice,” Ethridge said.

Day had been facing charges in the City that included first-degree home invasion, unlawful imprisonment and assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct. These stemmed from an incident alleged to have taken place around 5:15 a.m. April 22, 2017, at a home in the 700 block of Washington Road, in which Day was accused of having broken into the home and trying to restrain a 12-year-old girl with a weapon with the intent of committing sexual penetration.

After the hearing, City Detective Lt. John Alcorn said that the City victim “didn’t want to go forward, to proceed right now” with testifying, and her testimony was pivotal to the City’s case, so they decided to drop the charges. He said the charges could be reinstated later if the victim “changed her mind” and felt comfortable with testifying. Alcorn acknowledged that appearing in court and talking about what happened was too traumatic now for the victim.

“It’s a difficult situation for anybody, let alone a 12-year-old,” he said.

In the Farms in front of Municipal Court Judge Matthew Rumora Oct. 25, witnesses took the stand for the first day of what’s expected to be a two-day preliminary examination outlining what Day is accused of having done in the Farms the morning of April 23. Day stands accused of a home invasion in the 400 block of Lothrop Road and an attempted home invasion in the 400 block of Madison Road, among other charges.

Felicia Rich, a caregiver at a group home in the 400 block of Lothrop, testified that around 5:20 a.m. April 23, she was sitting in the living room when she heard a noise. After checking on the residents upstairs, she said she entered the den on the first floor and saw a black-gloved hand and a black-clothed arm pulling down a window.

“I screamed,” said Rich, adding that she immediately ran into a room upstairs to call 911. She admitted that she couldn’t determine the gender or ethnicity of the suspect, but she believed it was a man.

“I know what I saw,” Rich asserted. “I saw a hand pulling a window down.”

She said guests need to have permission to visit the group home, and no one had permission to be there at that time. In addition, Rich said guests are only allowed to visit during normal business hours.

Bruce Kafarski, a resident of the 400 block of Madison Road, said on the stand that sleeplessness led him to head into the kitchen for some coffee between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. April 23. He got his slippers from the enclosed back porch and re-entered the home, but said he didn’t lock the porch door behind him.

“I was sitting there in the dark (in the living room) when I heard my back door open,” Kafarski said. “It has a very distinctive squeak.”

He said he looked behind him and saw the silhouette of a person in dark clothing entering the home.

“I wouldn’t have been able to tell if it was a male or a female,” Kafarski said of the person he saw in the dark. He said when he called out, “Hey!” the suspect exited through the back door. Although he didn’t initially call police, Kafarski said that later that morning, when it was light out, he noticed that the sliding glass door to the enclosed porch was left open, and he had closed it the night before. When he saw the police presence in his neighborhood, he told officers about what had happened at his home earlier that morning.

Kafarski said both of his teenage daughters had also been home at the time, but they were sleeping.

Lt. George Bloomfield is one of the officers involved in the search for a suspect in the early morning hours of April 23. He testified that the grass was damp that morning and he took photos of a wet shoeprint on a driveway in the 400 block of Madison; the print was believed to have been made by the suspect — later identified as Day — that police were pursuing.

Officer Michael Scott, whose shift started at 7 a.m. that day, spotted another footprint a few houses down in the 400 block of Madison.

“From there, I started to search backyards,” Scott said.

From the backyard of the home on Madison where he saw the footprint, Scott said he hopped the fence into a neighboring home in the 400 block of Lothrop, which is where he saw a gun on the ground. The direction of the footprint Scott saw led him to believe that the suspect headed toward Lothrop.

Police have alleged that Day — who reportedly committed other crimes with a handgun — dropped the weapon while he was fleeing from them.

Palepu said she has about six more witnesses — all public safety officers — she intends to call when the Farms preliminary examination resumes.

At press time, Day was slated to be back in Farms Municipal Court for the continuation of his preliminary exam at 1 p.m. Nov. 6.

After the Farms hearing, Grand noted that evidence against her client in the Farms incidents is largely circumstantial, given that witnesses didn’t get a good look at whoever was breaking into their homes.

“These are very circumstantial cases and are going to be much harder to prove,” she said.

Grand said her client is facing four cases in 3rd Circuit Court — some of which stem from alleged incidents in December 2016 in Detroit and in April 2017 in Grosse Pointe Woods. Prosecutors could try the cases together, or try one of the cases and bring in evidence from the other cases, she said. Trying the cases together could be challenging, because Day is facing a variety of different charges, Grand said.

Day’s mother and another family member were in court during the Farms hearing. Grand said she believes these charges have been hard on Day’s mother. Day has been imprisoned before for other crimes, and prosecutors say he has a criminal record dating back to when he was just a juvenile.

“As a mom, I’m positive it’s very traumatic to know (your child is) accused of a crime,” Grand said.