Troy man charged with assault
Cops: Man drove into crowd at fair
Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan)
May 25, 2006
BY GINA DAMRON, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A Troy man accused of driving his minivan into an inflatable moon walk
at a Southfield charter school carnival on Sunday was in court
Wednesday on 28 felony charges.
Timothy P. Buss, 34, appeared in Southfield’s 46th District Court
before Judge Susan Moiseev charged with 13 counts of assault with
intent to murder, 13 counts of felony assault, one count of leaving
the scene of an accident and one count of malicious destruction of
property.
He could face life in prison if convicted of the most serious assault
charges.
Buss, who has yet to receive his court-appointed attorney, did not
post the $1.3-million bond that was set and was being held in the
Oakland County Jail’s Southfield annex Wednesday afternoon.
Witnesses told police that, despite attempts by several people to stop
him, Buss drove his 1994 Plymouth Voyager into the carnival at the
Alex & Marie Manoogian School, 22001 Northwestern Highway, at about 2
p.m. on Sunday. Buss was arrested nine hours later at his home in
Troy, Southfield Detective John Harris said.
Nine children and four adults were hurt — including a mother who
suffered a broken pelvis after being run over while holding her
3-year-old son, and a man who punched out the driver’s side window
trying to pull the keys out of the van’s ignition. None of the
injuries seemed to be life-threatening, Harris said.
Hosep Torossian, the school’s principal, said on Wednesday that he saw
Buss driving toward the carnival and tried to stop him, but the driver
ignored his plea. Torossian said he attended the arraignment.
“When I saw him,” he said, “the nightmare that it was just came into
my eyes.”
Harris said that Buss told police that he didn’t know the carnival was
going on and did not know anyone at the school or St. John Armenian
Church, which shares the same grounds as the school, but was not
involved in the fair.
Harris said police believe alcohol may have been a factor, but they
did not administer a Breathalyzer test because Buss was arrested
several hours after the incident.
Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Christian Arndt, who handled the
arraignment, would not comment about any details concerning the
incident.
Torossian, who said the school has been holding the fund-raising
carnival for about 35 years, said that the school has brought in grief
counselors for the children.
“The message to them was sometimes bad things happen,” he said. The
counselors “were there to put them at ease that the school is a safe
place and we’re a family.”
Buss will be back in court May 31.
Contact GINA DAMRON at 248-351-3293 or [email protected]
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