Man Allegedly Threatens Woman With Machete

CLINTON TWP. (WWJ) - A 48-year-old Harrison Township man is charged with felonious assault for allegedly threatening a woman with a machete following a road rage incident.

Joseph Templin is due back in Clinton Township's 41B District Court next week to face a preliminary examination after being arraigned on the charge. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.

Macomb County Sheriff's Office said the charge stems from an incident that occurred around 5 p.m. on May 28.

According to police, a 39-year-old Harrison Township woman said she was driving behind a Ford pickup truck that was carrying propane tanks on Crocker Boulevard. The woman told police she became concerned because the truck didn't have a tailgate or rear bumper to hold the tanks in place.

Fearing the tanks could fall out of the truck, the woman told police she drove alongside the truck and motioned to the driver, later identified as Templin, who allegedly responded with obscenities.

Police say the woman then followed Templin to a home at the Blue Sky Mobile Home Park on Jefferson Avenue and Crocker. The woman told police Templin went into the home and emerged a short time later carrying a machete and threatening her with it.

The woman fled the area and called police, who found Templin a few miles away at an apartment complex off Union Lake Road. Templin allegedly denied having any weapon or threatening the woman, but police say they found a black-handled machete with an 18-inch blade at his residence in the mobile home park after obtaining a search warrant.

Lt. John Michalke told the Detroit Free Press the woman said she followed Templin because she wanted to clarify her reason for motioning to him.