Westland Man: Lied About Robbery

A Westland man's tale spun out of control after he was ashamed to tell the truth while in the Annapolis Hospital emergency room Sunday. He claimed he'd been beaten and robbed on Saturday evening on the I-275 bike path. He didn't realize police would be summoned, according to a report filed this week.

The first report was amended on Thursday and indicates the man lied because he was ashamed of what really happened.

The man told police he'd been beaten and robbed of $110 while riding his bike on the I-275 trail according to the police report. He told police he'd been on his bike, riding from home to a friend's house at in Canton when he was confronted on the path under I-275 by three men who made him empty his pockets, took the money from his wallet, then beat him and kicked him in the head, according to the police report.

The man said he managed to retrieve his bike and wallet from the river and get back home, the report said and that he didn't call police because he didn't think they could find the strangers.

But something didn't seem quite right to police, said Canton Police detective Sgt. Dave Shreiner."We wanted to check into the validity of the report," he said in a phone interview Thursday. "We're not certain it's a legitimate story."

Questioned on Thursday for a second time by police, the man admitted that he'd lied.

An addendum to the police report indicates the man had been drinking beer with friends from the Sherwood mobile home park, standing on the bridge near the Lower Rouge River, when his bike chain broke and he slipped and fell into the water. The man told police he'd ended up walking back to his Westland home and later told family members about the incident.

The report goes on to say the man was so embarrassed about what happened that, when he went in for medical care, he made up the robbery story because he was ashamed of what happened and "he didn't want to be treated like a dumbass" at the hospital — and that he didn't realize police would be called.

He said he didn't want to make  false police report, according to the police report addendum, and that he had minimal cash in his wallet when the incident happened.

Schreiner said Thursday it has not yet been determined whether the man will be charged with filing a false police report or not. Canton Patch is withholding the man's name because he has not been charged with a crime.