Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was arraigned Friday on assault charges in district court.
Kilpatrick did not appear in person during the hearing but was seen on a video screen. He wore a suit and stood with his hands folded in front of him.
He was charged earlier in the day by the Michigan attorney general after police say Kilpatrick confronted a detective trying to deliver a subpoena to the mayor's friend.
Magistrate Renee R. McDuffee entered a not guilty plea on Kilpatrick's behalf and set his next court date for Aug. 15. The two counts of assaulting or obstructing a police officer are each punishable by up to two years in prison.
The mayor's bond is set at $25,000, and he must pay 10 percent.
The mayor already faces perjury and other charges stemming from his testimony in a civil trial last year.
"In my almost 20 years, first as a prosecutor and now as an attorney general ... I cannot recall ever seeing let alone hearing of a situation where a police officer trying to serve a subpoena was assaulted," Attorney General Mike Cox said at a news conference.
Brian White, who works for the Wayne County sheriff's office, said Kilpatrick came outside of a house belonging to his sister, Ayanna, and threw him into another investigator. White didn't fall but said he may have a slight hip fracture.
White is a lead investigator in Kilpatrick's perjury case. The mayor and a former top aide are charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice, all tied to their testimony in a civil trial last year. At the heart of that case: steamy text messages contradicting their claim that they didn't have a romantic relationship.
'Asking for another chance'
Before Friday's developments, Kilpatrick admitted violating that condition when he went to Windsor, Ontario — minutes from Detroit — on July 23 to discuss the sale of the city's portion of a tunnel connecting the U.S. and Canada. He didn't call prosecutors or inform the court.
“I’m asking for another chance,” the mayor pleaded Thursday to District Judge Ronald Giles.
The judge’s response was swift and surprising: Jail for the leader of the country’s 11th-largest city.
“I don’t claim to have a good understanding of what your responsibilities are. ... But I have to look at how the (court) system is run and perceived by the public,” Giles told Kilpatrick.
Kilpatrick was transported to jail in a sheriff's van, photographed, given a green jumpsuit and placed in a one-man cell for high-profile people. He wore a tan suit to his court hearing Friday morning.
Earlier Thursday, Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty waived their right to a preliminary exam in the perjury case. That means those charges now go directly to Wayne County Circuit Court. Arraignment for the pair was set for Aug. 14. Both deny the charges.
Although not in the general jail population, Kilpatrick was being treated like any other prisoner — “no better, no worse,” Sheriff Warren Evans said. Evans told WDIV-TV Friday morning that Kilpatrick had an “uneventful night” in jail.
Earlier Thursday, Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty waived their right to a preliminary exam in the perjury case. That means those charges now go directly to Wayne County Circuit Court. Arraignment was set for Aug. 14. Both deny the charges.
Resisted calls to quit
Kilpatrick has resisted calls for his resignation or a plea bargain as his legal woes pile up.
City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. would succeed Kilpatrick if the mayor resigns or is forced from office.
In May, the Detroit City Council asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm to invoke a little-used state law and remove Kilpatrick from office for misconduct. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.