Pittsford man charged with dragging cop, police chase

HILLSDALE — A Pittsford area man arrested over the weekend for dragging a Hillsdale County Sheriff’s deputy down a road and fleeing from police in a high-speed pursuit was arraigned Monday, March 4, in the 2B District Court on a number of criminal charges.

Michael Allen Church, 35, stands charged with third-degree fleeing/eluding police, resisting/obstructing/assaulting a police officer, possession of brass knuckles and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person.

Church is alleged to have drug Detective Sergeant Wes Ludeker a short ways down a road in Jefferson Township when Ludeker opened Church’s door to remove him from his vehicle and take him into custody on an unrelated warrant. Church hit the gas and fled from the stop as Ludeker’s hand was inside the vehicle.

Deputies were attempting to arrest Church on a warrant for misdemeanor larceny stemming from October 2023 at the time of the traffic stop.

Church was later on charged with a fugitive warrant out of Franklin County, Virginia for an alleged probation violation stemming from the pursuit on Saturday, March 2.

He indicated he wished to waive his rights to an extradition hearing in the fugitive matters which Judge Megan Stiverson ordered that Church be held without bond pending extradition.

Regarding bond in the new file, Hillsdale County Prosecutor Neal Brady said “it should reflect that he was trying to flee and it should be sufficiently high.”

The court noted that in addition to allegedly fleeing from police on March 2, Church has two prior failure to appear incidents leading to the court to set bond at $30,000 with 10-percent allowed cash or surety. A GPS tether device will be required if Church is able to post bond for his pretrial release.

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Ludeker, in a text message to The Hillsdale Daily News Saturday, said all officers involved, including himself, were okay.

The pursuit spanned through Jefferson and Pittsford Township and ended when police successfully deployed stop sticks on Church Road near Pittsford Road which caused Church’s vehicle to overturn.

Church pleaded not guilty to all matters and will tentatively appear back in the 2B District Court at 10:30 a.m. March 13 for a probable cause conference where he will be represented by a public defender.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Pittsford man charged with dragging cop, police chase