Police: Center Line woman's boyfriend drags her husband with truck

CENTER LINE, Mich. (WJBK) - A love triangle turned violent in Center Line when police say a woman's boyfriend ran over her husband with his truck. The husband is now in the hospital and the boyfriend is behind bars.

Robert Blackburn, 35, of Hazel Park drove to the home of the woman he was dating, according to investigators, who is also married to another man. The couple lives in a home on Harding in Center Line, which is near 10 Mile Road and Van Dyke.

The husband walked out of the house into the street.

Police eventually got a call to the home for a hit-and-run.

When police arrived at the house, you can see in their dash cam video the husband lying in the middle of the street.

In the dash cam video, which you can see in the video player above, his wife can be seen on the left standing next to him while a neighbor is on the right. The call came in as a hit-and-run. Blackburn, 35, had just left the scene in his red pickup.

Center Line Police Sgt. Bill Dempsey explains what happened.

"The victim and the suspect were in a, let's say, heated verbal argument," he says.. "The suspect, the driver of the red Chevy, put the vehicle in reverse and caught the victim between the door and the post of the vehicle.

"He proceeded backwards about 45 feet, dragging the victim. He put the vehicle in drive and dragged him another 25 feet before the victim was able to dislodge himself from the vehicle and that's where we found him, was [lying] in the roadway."

The husband, whose name has not been given, was injured and rushed to the hospital.

"The victim did receive some substantial injuries but we do have a report that he is in stable condition at the hospital at this time," Dempsey says.

Blackburn drove a couple of miles away before eventually ditching his pickup on Hoover Road, south of Eight Mile Road. Police say he then ran approximately three miles. By cellphone, he told the woman he was dating he was at Outer Drive and Mound Road on Detroit's east side. She told Centerline Police and they picked Blackburn up.

"When the suspect did see the officers, he fled on foot," Dempsey says. "There was a short foot pursuit and our officers did take him into custody."

Blackburn is charged with assault and driving on a suspended license for the second time. He is being held in the Macomb County jail on a $20,000 cash bond.