VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A man who was shot in the side after leading state troopers on a chase from Taylor to Van Buren Township has died, officials said.

The man was pulled over in Taylor for a seat belt violation but drove away, leading troopers on a chase along several major highways, Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said.

An officer suffered a broken hand while trying to stop the driver in Van Buren Township, Shaw said.

High-speed chase and shooting

A Michigan State Police trooper conducted a traffic stop around 12:50 p.m. Friday for a seat belt violation at Van Born and Telegraph roads, in Taylor, Shaw said.

When troopers went up to the black Ford F-150 pickup truck, the driver said he was a sovereign citizen and didn't have to give any of his information to police.

The man started to roll his window up, and a trooper tried to smash the window to remove the driver from the truck. Before police could stop him, the man drove away and led them on a long chase from I-75 to I-96 and then to I-94 and Haggerty Road, Shaw said.

As the driver came down Haggerty Road, troopers tried to use precision immobilization technique maneuvers to stop the pickup truck, but the driver kept control of his truck and drove to the entrance of the Lower Huron Metro Park.

While performing the maneuver, one of the officers broke his hand during a collision, Shaw said. The officer will have to have surgery.

Police boxed the truck in near the entrance of the park, and the man got out of the truck with a handgun and ran into the tree line. Police said he went into a shooting stance, so they fired at him.

The man was shot in the side and was in "very critical condition" when he was taken to a hospital, Shaw said. He died of his injuries in the hospital.

Shaw said police are unsure if the man fired any shots because they haven't yet gone into the scene to investigate. He said they didn't want to risk changing the scene before K-9 units went in to investigate.

"Probably in the last (several) months, we've experienced a lot of people that are just fleeing the scene from law enforcement," Shaw said. "I don't know if it's something to do with the current status of law enforcement, and what we're getting along with, but we've seen quite a bit of that now."

Roads closed

Haggerty Road was closed in both directions near East Huron Drive in Van Buren Township due to the situation, according to Van Buren Township police.

East Huron Drive was also closed at Haggerty Road.

The roads are still closed while police investigate the scene.

It's unclear when the roads are expected to reopen.

Witness account

A witness told Local 4 she was sitting at a red light on Huron River Drive at Haggerty Drive toward Belleville when she saw a black SUV speeding past her with police cars behind it.

"(The police cars) ran him off the road," she said. "They jumped out of the cars with their guns drawn."

She said she got out of the area because she didn't want to be hit by a stray bullet.

Was a chase warranted?

Shaw said the high-speed chase in the middle of the afternoon was absolutely warranted in this situation.

"Once you take away the seat belt violation, troopers made contact with this individual, actually broke his window out to remove (him from) his car, and he drove away," Shaw said. "You can't allow that."

Shaw said troopers are proficient in their chase policies and trained from recruit school to do what they're supposed to do.

"This individual was not only a danger to us troopers but also to the public themselves," Shaw said. "Anybody that's willing to almost run over police officers to get away, to drive through PIT maneuvers, to drive different ways on the freeways is absolutely a danger to society, and yes we will pursue them until we catch them."

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