An Indiana teen will stand trial in May for his role in the Feb. 20 assault on a Michigan State Police trooper on the U.S. 31 freeway in Niles Township.
The preliminary hearing for Travis Tyler Wise, 19, of Middlebury, was Tuesday in Berrien County Trial Court a week after Wise’s brother, Michael Scott Barber, 21, of Mishawaka, was bound over for trial on seven charges from the same incident. Barber is on parole from a 2013 home invasion sentence in Van Buren County.
As was the case last week, MSP Trooper Garry Guild was the only person to testify. Guild said he observed Barber traveling southbound on the freeway on what turned out to be a stolen motorcycle. He activated his lights and then his siren in an attempt to pull him over.
Guild said his pursuit began around Matthew Road in Berrien Township and ended up near the Niles-Buchanan Road exit where Barber crashed the motorcycle. Guild then attempted to handcuff Barber when he was attacked from behind by an unknown person who turned out to be Wise.
Guild described himself as 6 foot 1 inches tall and 195 pounds in weight. “I was gasping and fighting for air and I felt like I was going to pass out,” he said. “If I passed out they would have access to my weapons. He had a chokehold on me for over 11 seconds and never let up.”
He went on to testify that although Wise was yelling at Barber to run, Barber came back, punched him in the face twice with his fist and started groping around for Guild’s weapon. Guild was only able to get control of the situation after two citizens stopped and pulled Wise off him.
An extremely loud and HUGE thank you to those folks who stopped to help Trooper GUILD…and great job Trooper keeping your head clear and doing what you needed to do to get home safely!
Stay Safe!!