Kilpatrick faces felony assault charge today

Shortly after Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wakes up in jail this morning -- still reeling from becoming the first sitting mayor in Detroit's 307-year history to spend a night behind bars -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is expected to charge him with felony assault.

The announcement will come just 25 hours after the onetime political wunderkind went to court Thursday, with plans to waive a preliminary examination and speed his way to trial on perjury and other charges from the text message scandal. Instead, he wound up getting locked up.

Kilpatrick appeared devastated when 36th District Judge Ronald Giles, speaking in low-key tones from the bench, made his blockbuster ruling: The mayor's unauthorized trip to Windsor last month, a bond violation, had earned him a court-ordered trip to the Wayne County Jail.

Immediately.

At 10 this morning, Cox is expected to announce that he is charging Kilpatrick with assaulting an officer in July as he tried to serve court papers on one of Kilpatrick's best friends.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to be arraigned on felony assault charges either later today or early tomorrow. An arrest warrant has been issued.

Attorney General Mike Cox announced the charges a short time ago. He says Michigan State Police officers are expected to pick the Mayor up at the Wayne County Jail, where he is currently being processed for release after spending the night in jail.

The charges stem from an incident on the Mayor's sister's porch a little over two weeks ago. They allege that the Mayor assaulted two police officers as they were trying to serve a warrant on the Mayor's friend Bobby Ferguson.