GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The man accused of attacking a Grand Rapids Township fire lieutenant, allegedly shoving his finger into the lieutenant’s eye, over the weekend has been charged with assault.
Robert Daniel-Brent Joppe was arraigned Monday afternoon on four felony counts: assaulting an officer causing serious injury (the fire lieutenant), assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting an officer (a responding deputy).
Appearing in court via video linkup from his hospital bed, Joppe asked the judge to repeat one of the charges and the penalty. He seemed to become emotional at one point as the judge continued to read the charges against him. Not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf, which is standard at arraignment.
The attack happened shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday at the fire station on the East Beltline near Knapp Street NE. The Kent County Sheriff’s Office said the fire lieutenant was working alone there and allowed Joppe, 40, of Cedar Springs, into the garage, believing he might have been there to do some work on the building.
But Joppe was not a worker. He was suicidal and under the influence of drugs, the sheriff’s office said, and had a gun.
“Mr. Joppe wandered into the Grand Rapids Township fire barn and made certain suicidal statements. He then removed a pistol from his waist,” Judge Jeffrey O’Hara said in court, providing details from a probable cause document. “Eventually, there was assaultive behavior to the point where the defendant began to push his thumb into the firefighter’s right eye as hard as he could, it’s alleged, and to the point where the victim felt like his eye was pushed well into his, quote, ‘brain cavity.'”
The fire lieutenant requested an emergency response.
“He was able to give a call for help himself,” Kent County Undersheriff Bryan Muir said Monday. “I give him credit for how calm and cool he stayed, just like all public safety. They’ve dealt with a lot of critical situations of the course of their year and he was able to make that call himself and handle that situation by disarming the subject.”
The sheriff’s office said when deputies arrived, they saw Joppe “actively assaulting” the lieutenant. They stopped and arrested him, the sheriff’s office said.
The fire lieutenant was hospitalized with several injuries, but was allowed to go home Saturday night to continue recovering, Grand Rapids Township Fire Department Chief Luke Werdon said.
In a Monday statement released to News 8, Werdon said he was “grateful” for the “fast actions of the fire lieutenant, who followed his training and his instincts,” and the speedy response from the sheriff’s office, which “responded quickly to the 911 call and restrained the intruder.”
At arraignment, Joppe’s bond was set at $50,000.
“The court is concerned with this violent behavior. The court is concerned with the safety of our public and community and the victims,” the judge said.
Joppe is expected back in court for hearings on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11. If convicted of assaulting or resisting an officer causing injury, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
—News 8’s Kyle Mitchell contributed to this report.
