Cab dispatcher reveals Brake arrest

Grand Rapids, Mich. (WOOD) - The cab dispatcher that Troy Brake approached to request a taxi has been subpoenaed to testify against him in court.

Brake is being tried for the beating of a Mary Louise Parker in Kent County Circuit Court.

After Brake beat Parker, a prostitute, police say he went to the Yellow Cab Company's dispatch office to get a ride to Sparta.

Dispatcher Jeff Cooley had already been put on the lookout by the Grand Rapids police.

"(Police said) we're looking for a white male in the area of Burton and Kalamazoo. He goes, 'if you have a pick up there please let us know'," Cooley said.

About three hours after he was alerted, Cooley says a man fitting the description walked into the cab company's office in the 1400 block of Kalamazoo Ave. Cooley says he didn't make the connection with the police situation until he noticed blood on Brake's shirt.

"I got his cab and then when he stood up and turned in the light is when I seen all the blood," Cooley said.

That's when Cooley contacted police. The cab was pulled over and police arrested Brake.

In the video of that arrest shown in court Tuesday, Brake is ordered out of the cab and told to walk backward toward officers. A hand gun and a magazine can be seen in the back of his pants.

24 Hour News 8 showed that video to the cab dispatcher.

"When I seen the guns in his back- man, I didn't even see them," Cooley said.

Cooley, as well as the cab driver, who didn't want to comment, will testify in court Wednesday about the role they played in his arrest.