Sterling Heights is a relatively quiet Detroit suburb home to the plant where Chrysler 200s and Dodge Avengers are built. It also has a city councilman who allegedly stopped a random construction vehicle in his neighborhood with his body and then called 911 screaming "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY."


A little bit of background: Before being elected to Sterling Heights' City Council, Paul C. Smith was present at a Tea Party rally where he held a sign depicting Obama with a spear through his head with the caption "He changed America into Uganda"; a sign that said Nancy Pelosi "loves wetbacks, bribes from importers and fags"; and another sign with a noose around former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's face with the caption "She turned Michigan into Detroit."

The Secret Service paid a visit to him last year after someone showed them the video. Why there was a three-year lapse between the rally and the Secret Service, who knows?


The visit turned up nothing, but Smith is allegedly stirring things up again. Sterling Heights Mayor Pro Tem Mike Taylor posted this interesting tidbit on Facebook on Tuesday:

Earlier today Sterling Heights Councilman Paul Smith called 911 and tied up police officers for over an hour to report that a construction vehicle was driving in his subdivision. A review of the 911 tapes seems to indicate that he put his body in front of the vehicle, announced that he was "Councilman Smith," ordered the driver to stop, and called 911 yelling "EMERGENCY EMERGENCY."

We were just one "do you know who the fuck I am?" away from pure Detroit political gold. And as one Facebook commenter noted, this sounds like a scene lifted from "Parks & Recreation."

Whether or not this actually happened (it should be noted that Taylor is running for re-election to the council), it can't help Smith's already bizarre reputation for outbursts during meetings and openly lending support to another Tea Party affiliate: Troy Mayor Janice Daniels, who, among other missteps, posted on Facebook that she was going to "throw away her I Love New York purse now that queers can get married there."


And for more of the insanity of suburban Detroit politics, here's Smith's wife defending him at a city council meeting last year:

"I speak Spanish! I worked in the city of Detroit for over 25 years! How could you call us racist and homophobes?"


And you thought the insane politicians were only inside 8 Mile.