During chase in Gaylord, Eric Ramsey updates his Facebook account: 'Well folks, I'm about to get shot. Peace'
Just before 3 a.m. Thursday, Eric Lee Ramsey rammed a Michigan State Police patrol car in Gaylord.
Like most of the night, the 30-year-old Mount Pleasant resident showed his reckless disregard – for the Central Michigan University student he tried killing, for the police and for himself.
And after the senior from Grand Rapids jumped from a moving vehicle – her 2003 Ford Escape – he fled with it.
North on U.S. 127, he eventually wound up in Gaylord, ramming an MSP patrol car three times, leaving it inoperable and the trooper inside injured, according to a Thursday release from the MSP-Gaylord Post.
Ramsey put time between him and the law as responding troopers followed the vehicle’s snow-laden tracks into an elk ranch southeast of town. The tracks led them to the vehicle, stuck in the snow and abandoned. Foot tracks then led them to Arrow Sanitation off M-32 in Gaylord, where it is believed he stole a sanitation truck.
Around this time, at approximately 3:15 a.m., a post showed up on the Facebook account belonging to Ramsey.
“Well folks, I’m about to get shot. Peace,” it read.
About an hour later, the post came true.
At approximately 4:15 a.m., according to the release, troopers were parked on southbound Old 27 north of Frederic looking for the stolen truck. Then it showed, without headlights, ramming an MSP vehicle from behind.
A Crawford County deputy had been following the stolen truck and witnessed the collision. He continued the pursuit, and that’s when Ramsey turned around and began traveling northbound – toward the deputy.
According to the release, the deputy – having watched Ramsey ram an MSP patrol car – tried turning off the roadway but was rammed, pinning him in his vehicle. He then got out, and shot and killed Ramsey. Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski described the deputy as “pretty banged up” during a Thursday news conference.
Ramsey wasn’t a stranger to the legal system. According to Michigan Department of Corrections records, he was paroled in July for four separate prison sentences, including malicious destruction of fire or police property (2 to 6 years), resisting or obstructing a police officer (2 to 3 years) and assault with intent to do bodily harm (5 to 15 years) in Isabella County in July 2007.
In April 2006, Ramsey was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison for felonious assault in Gratiot County, a sentence he was still serving at the time of his death, according to records.
When asked Thursday, Mioduszewski said Ramsey had an “extensive contact with law enforcement throughout his life,” but declined commenting any further.
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