Harrison hate crime charges follow alleged vehicle assault

A 32-year-old Harrison man suffered severe injuries after he was allegedly run over three times with a Jeep during a confrontation in Harrison.

The Clare County Sheriff’s Office said dispatchers received multiple 911 calls at 3:10 p.m. Saturday, July 25, reporting that a vehicle had struck a man on County Farm Street near Park Street.

Deputies found the man in the roadway and gave emergency medical care until Mobile Medical Response arrived. He was taken to MyMichigan Medical Center Midland for treatment.

Investigators said a preliminary review indicated that a maroon 2008 Jeep Wagoneer driven by Christopher Lee Wooster-Earl, 41, of Harrison, intentionally struck the man. Wooster-Earl and Jack David Earl, 20, of Harrison, had argued with the man before the assault, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators alleged that Wooster-Earl backed the Jeep over the man and drove over him twice more as the confrontation escalated.

After the alleged vehicle assault, witnesses told investigators that Earl approached the injured man with a knife and tried to stab him. Witnesses intervened and chased Earl away, according to the sheriff’s office.

Earl returned while deputies were investigating and was arrested without incident. Deputies found the Jeep at Wooster-Earl’s home, contacted him by telephone and persuaded him to return to the residence, where he was arrested.

Wooster-Earl was charged with one count each of assault with intent to murder and hate crime — true threat. Earl was charged with one count each of assault with a dangerous weapon and hate crime — true threat.

Both men were arraigned Monday, July 27, in the 80th District Court in Clare County. Bond was set at $100,000 with 10 percent surety for each man, according to the sheriff’s office.

Michigan’s hate-crime and true-threat law

Under MCL 750.147b, a hate crime requires malicious and intentional conduct based on a characteristic such as race or color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, ethnicity, national origin and certain associations.

The statute covers using force or violence, causing bodily injury, stalking, damaging property and making a true threat. It defines a true threat as a serious expression of intent to commit unlawful violence against a particular person or group, including unlawful damage to that person’s or group’s property.

Criminal prosecution and civil compensation are separate. A person injured or had property because of a hate crime can bring a civil action regardless of whether a criminal prosecution occurs or how it ends. The statute permits injunctive and other appropriate relief. A prevailing plaintiff may recover three times the actual damages or $25,000, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney fees and costs.

That civil claim requires its own proof and does not follow automatically from an arrest or criminal charge.

Civil claims and Michigan no-fault benefits after an intentional vehicle injury

An intentional vehicle injury can also raise no-fault insurance questions. Under MCL 500.3105, Michigan no-fault personal injury protection insurance (PIP) covers accidental bodily injury arising from the use of a motor vehicle and treats an injury as accidental to the claimant unless the injured person intentionally suffered it or the claimant intentionally caused it.

Benefits extend to reasonably necessary care, work loss and replacement services, subject to statutory and policy limits. Michigan Legal Center’s guide to who pays medical bills after a Michigan car accident explains how pedestrian PIP priority can depend on household coverage, available policies and assigned claims rules.

Get help from Michigan Legal Center

Michigan Legal Center is the Law Offices of Christopher J. Trainor & Associates. Michigan Legal Center handles personal injury, car accident and no-fault insurance matters throughout Michigan.

If you were injured when a vehicle struck you or have questions about no-fault benefits after a pedestrian crash, Contact Michigan Legal Center to ask whether the matter is within Michigan Legal Center’s practice.

There is no attorney fee unless money is recovered for you. Case costs and fee terms are governed by the written fee agreement.