Nickolas Swander/Courtesy
Adam Swander has been issued a felony warrant for resisting and obstructing an officer, after fleeing police during a traffic stop the morning of Oct. 18 near the corner of Fayette and Hillsdale streets.
“He fled… we gave chase on foot through the area, checked for his location in nearby buildings, and we ended up not finding him,” said Hillsdale Police Sgt. Steve Pratt, who was on the scene.
Hillsdale College junior David van Note, who witnessed the stop and escape from the front lawn of the Alpha Tau Omega house, said Swander stepped out of the car, a black pickup truck, after officers approached the window.
“Another cop car pulled up and then he got flustered and booked it down the street,” Note said.
According to senior Ben Wallace, who witnessed the stop and escape from the balcony of the Sigma Chi house, Swander was running with two police officers in pursuit east along Fayette St.
“The officer closest behind him yelled ‘Taser, Taser.’ If he shot, he must have missed because they kept running after him,” Wallace said.
At 12:12 p.m., Adam Swander posted a message on Facebook apologizing to Pratt, a family friend, and reassured people he was safely out of state.
“Don’t worry about me. Steve Pratt I want to apology [sic] for running you’ve always treated me good. [sic] I did what I had to plain and simple… Back to AZ,” he wrote in the post.
Nickolas Swander, Adam Swander’s brother, told The Collegian that his brother was granted a 30-day temporary leave from his sentence at the Hillsdale County Jail to have surgery relating to Chron’s disease, which he contracted in April 2015.
“He had a colostomy bag and he was bleeding all over the jail floor,” Nickolas Swander said. “He was not getting the help he needed — he was in for three weeks with the bag, and [the problem] went a few weeks past what it should have.”
The Collegian was unable to reach the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department for comment.
Imprisoned in the summer of 2016 for possession of drug paraphernalia, Adam Swander failed to appear for his hearing at the conclusion of that temporary leave from jail, resulting in a bench warrant for his arrest. Nickolas Swander, who attended Hillsdale College for one year before moving to Naples, Florida, said he believes that hearing was approximately 60 days ago.
It was this warrant that led officers to pull over his vehicle the morning of Oct. 18.
“The doctors kept having to push his surgery back, so he decided to stay out because it could possibly kill him. I fully stand by his side… he did what he had to do,” Nickolas Swander said.
Pratt, who has served on the Hillsdale City police force for his entire 22-year career, said he wishes no ill will toward Adam Swander for running. He said it made a bad situation worse, since it added a felony warrant to his misdemeanor bench warrant.
“I know his family, I know his mother, and they’re not bad people at all. Adam has just made some bad choices. I think he would tell you this: I’ve always been fair with him and treated him well. It’s not personal, just a job,” Pratt said. “Adam has made some bad decisions, but it doesn’t mean he’s a horrible, nasty person.”