The Place Where Ludington Talks

A Trilogy of Citizens With Guns and Cops in West Michigan in January 2014

An epidemic of sorts has recently developed in West Michigan involving police and civilians with guns. We recently have had the Lowell Fetters police case resolved with the police shooter being sent to prison for at least 18 years, and the shooting of a State Trooper in September is slowly filtering through the courts with the trial of shooter Eric Knysz coming up next month.

However, a Mason County man was shot late last night by a State Trooper, and while details are still sketchy on this encounter there are three incidents to the south of us that have appeared in the news this short year so far that has shown why it is important to have our public aware that there can be fatal consequences for carrying or brandishing guns, and that our police officers need better training on protocols and the law. It also shows why it may be a great idea to have officers wear passive cameras for when they make contacts with the public, so that both police and the public have an unbiased witness to what happens.

January 14, 2014: Young Man Shot in Grand Rapids Wielding BB Gun

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A 19-year-old Grand Rapids man is in critical condition after a Grand Rapids Police officer shot him twice as the teen brandished what appeared to be a handgun at a Southeast Side apartment.

The teen, who police say may have mental health issues, was shot in an arm and the abdomen after police responded about 12:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14 to an apartment in Clearpoint Valley Townhomes, near Breton Road SE an...

Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk said the weapon may have been an Airsoft gun, but it did not have an orange tip.

He said the weapon looked real. It had a CO2 cartridge.

Belk said the 19-year-old had called a mental health agency earlier Tuesday, telling them he was having difficulties and needed to contact his mother.

"He told them he couldn't do it anymore," Belk said. "He said if they sent anybody else, they would die."

Workers with the mental health agency, the Family Outreach Center, asked police to check on the 19-year-old.

When police arrived, he talked with them through an upstairs window and then came down and opened the door. Officers noticed he had scratches on his arm and became concerned about his safety.

The man then fled to the upstairs. He came back down soon after, but officers noticed he was carrying a handgun. Officers ordered him to drop the weapon more than once but he refused.

One of the officers fired three times at the 19-year-old, hitting him twice.

The two officers had been in a foyer area of the apartment. After the shooting, the officers retreated to a nearby bathroom. They then kicked out a screen and got out a window.

Once outside, they ordered the 19-year-old to throw his weapon out the door and he did.

Police then rendered him aid. Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk gave the following interview:

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/01/video_shows_n...

With the details in so far, it looks as if the GRPD were completely justified in shooting the young man, but without any video, we have to take the GRPD account on faith. Chief Belk is at least quickly addressing the situation and, barring any footage that show otherwise, the version sounds credible and is backed by the GRPD history with this person.

In Battle Creek, another youthful boy surrounded by some girls his age was shot in front of a convenience store, this one did have some footage:

January 14, 2014 Video Released in Battle Creek: Policeman Shoots 14 y.o. Boy Possessing Toy Gun

A Battle Creek Police Officer Esteban Rivera yelled "Let me see your hands!" twice a split second before shooting 14-year-old Nicholas King in the right shoulder, shows a dash-cam v... just released on January 14, 2014 by the Battle Creek Police Department.

The video shows King running away after he was shot and the three girls with King reacting in disbelief to the shooting, with one yelling at Rivera: "You can't kill people like that! Are you serious?"

Rivera, a 20-year veteran officer who was cleared last month of wrongdoing in the incident, told investigators that King was pulling the fake handgun from his waistband when the shooting occurred.

The dash-cam video does not offer a clear image of the shooting, although officers can be seen pointing out the fake handgun where King dropped it near the front of the patrol car.

"I don't even know if it's real or not," one officer says looking at the fake gun on the ground. The toy was a "spitting likeness of an actual 9 mm or 45 Cal semiautomatic handgun," and the orange tip put on the toy by the manufacturer to signify it was a fake gun had been removed, said a Dec. 13 report by Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert.

Rivera can be heard on the video explaining the shooting to a colleague. "I said, 'Show me your hands,' and he got it up here and I shot him,' " Rivera said in apparent reference to King pulling out out the fake gun.

Rivera also can be heard making a phone call about the incident. "I just shot a kid," he said, his voice distraught. "He pulled a gun on me. ... Why did he pull the gun?"

The shooting occurred about noon Saturday, Nov. 16, outside the Drive Thru Party Factory, 240 S. Washington St. in Battle Creek.

Rivera was responding to a call that a man carrying a black pistol was running through bushes near the store. The three girls at the scene told investigators they were playing hide and seek with King.

In his Dec. 13 report, Gilbert said the shooting "was justified under the circumstances."

"I find Officer Rivera did reasonably believe Mr. King has a handgun, that Mr. King pulled that gun after being told to show him his hands," The report said.

"... It is clear from his movements Mr. King did not drop the gun after being shot, as he turns to his right then flees with empty hands. It was dropped at about the time and just before the bullet is fired," the report said.

"... Perhaps Mr. King was merely trying to get rid of the weapon and was not trying to put the officer in fear; he did not make a statement," the report said, noting King declined to be interviewed by police after the incident.

"However, in this case Mr. King's intentions are not as important as how his conduct is perceived by others. Attempting to get a weapon out of one's waist band after an officer, pointing a gun at you, has stated 'Let me see your hands' is threatening and aggressive.

".. Officer Rivera did reasonable fear for his life or the lives of others based on the conduct of Mr. King, and used reasonable force to combat the perceived danger presented by Mr. King. In such a situation, as here, an officer is justified in using deadly force," the report said.

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/01/video_shows_n...

I am not so inclined to give the policeman a pass on this one. The video doesn't show everything, but it does show the officer saying "show me your hands" and in the same second shooting the boy. The officers pistol was drawn and he fired within the second he said his words, well within the time it would take the words to register with the boy. In the video you see a girl raise her hands, the other two look kind of perplexed-- they are probably lucky they didn't have a cell phone in their hands.

I am inclined to believe that while the officer spoke then shot, the boy was in the process of pointing out that he did not have a real gun. He has survived, and we will likely hear more from the impending civil suit about what happened here from his viewpoint. The officer's reactions seem to me to be beyond reasonable in the use of deadly force in this case, particularly when he had the girls and the storefront so close by, and the police cruiser protecting him if the boy actually had a real gun and meant to use it.

At the time of the shooting the official report said: " Once he was cornered, police say he showed this replica gun. He was told to drop it, and when he didn't, police say, the officer fired one shot, hitting him." That's a false report, that didn't happen at all. The police are covering for their own here.

The nearly year lapse in the release of this video is also highly suspicious, this should have been readily available long ago by a responsible and accountable police agency. We can see both hands of the boy in the video at about the same time he is shot, and there is no weapon in them as the report says. It is legal to open carry in Michigan, which brings us to...

The last incident involves a man who was open carrying a gun in Grand Rapids last March, which resurfaced because a federal case was filed in December, and the City's response was filed this week.

Jan 13, 2014 Grand Rapids: City Responds to Open Carry Lawsuit

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The city says police acted properly in detaining open-carry advocate Johann Deffert, who was forced to the ground at gunpoint because of his holstered firearm.

Deffert has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids alleging police violated his constitutional rights, assaulted him and falsely imprisoned him.

The city, in a response filed Monday, Jan. 13, said the lawsuit should be dismissed.

“The stop, pat-down search, and brief detention of plaintiff were supported by reasonable suspicion and/or other legal cause,” assistant city attorneys Margaret Bloemers and Kristen Rewa wrote.

“The force defendant officer(s) used in the course (of) the lawful stop, pat-down search, and brief detention was objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances. The individual defendants are entitled to qualified immunity from plaintiff’s suit.

The incident occurred around noon March 3, a Sunday, on Michigan Street NE near Lakeside Drive. A 911 caller reported a man with a holstered gun, and was told by a dispatcher that it was legal to openly carry a firearm.

The dispatcher then sent Moe and Johnston to check on a “suspicious person” with a gun in a holster. Moe, first on the scene, ordered Deffert to the ground. Deffert repeatedly told the officer that police were violating his constitutional rights and had no legal reason to detain him.

In many ways, both sides agreed on what happened, but reached different legal conclusions.

The city acknowledged that Moe drew his service firearm and pointed it at Deffert, but said “Officer Moe’s decision to approach (Deffert) in a manner consistent with a high-risk stop, i.e. his firearm drawn and pointed, was objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances.”

The city says police acted in good faith and without malice. The city also blamed Deffert.

“Plaintiff’s injuries were caused, in whole or part, by his own actions.”

Police said Deffert was talking to himself when Moe approached. Deffert said he was just walking home after having breakfast.

“Do not move,” the officer said. “Why do you have a handgun on you?”

“It's my constitutional right to defend myself.”

State police say open carry of firearms is not illegal as long as the gun is carried with lawful intent and not concealed.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/01/city_defen...

The City's response grates on my senses when they say the officers actions were objectively reasonable in the circumstances and that plaintiff's injuries were caused by his own actions. Perhaps they would feel the same if the guy with the badge was drawn on, taken to the ground in handcuffs and detained for simply walking down the street carrying a handgun at his side, as he is lawfully able to do? I think not; I think Deffert in that case would be facing many years behind bars for such criminal conduct. Badges do not grant you extra rights to deprive others of rights unlawfully.

It is probably lucky for Mr. Deffert that the dispatcher reminded the officers that open carry is legal in Michigan because the officers involved definitely didn't give Deffert's rights much weight when they detained him.

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Permalink Reply by XLFD on January 15, 2014 at 1:09pm

The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, just south of Muskegon, are advising public officials how to respond to open carry practitioners that show up at public buildings with weapons in holsters. Call the police.

The people who are open-carrying are called opportunists looking for ways to sue public agencies, hmmm, where have I seen that reasoning before. Does this mean that when a police officer comes into any public building we need to call the police? I say pistol-pack that City Clerk and librarian! They will at least be intelligent enough not to point their gun at and detain people lawfully carrying their protection.