LANSING, Mich. — On Thursday, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office finished reviewing a January deputy-involved shooting in Ypsilanti and will not file criminal charges, saying the Washtenaw County deputies’ force fit Michigan self-defense rules based on what they knew in the moment.
The Jan. 6 pursuit started after several 911 callers described a white construction van racing through Ypsilanti. Dispatch warned that a handgun might be inside. Deputies spotted a matching van without headlights near 1:53 a.m., tried a stop, and chased the driver for about 14 minutes while the van backed toward patrol cars, ran the wrong way and fled again after a stop attempt behind a school.
A precision immobilization move ended the chase around 2:06 a.m. and tipped the van partly onto its side. Deputies moving in shouted that the driver had a gun. Three deputies fired roughly 34 shots in seven seconds. Officers treated the scene as a barricaded-gunman call until they entered near 4 a.m. and found the 34-year-old driver dead.
State Police evidence crews later found no gun among debris tossed when the van rolled. The county medical examiner said two of seven gunshot wounds would have killed within seconds to minutes and that the driver had high cocaine levels that night.
Prosecutors studied reports, 911 audio, body and dash video, autopsy findings and sheriff policies. They said deputies were wrong about a firearm being present, yet that belief was not unreasonable under self-defense law, which judges the scene through the officer’s eyes rather than with later knowledge. The office said it could not prove the shooting was unjustified, the showing required to charge.
The criminal closeout does not settle civil claims. Family attorneys sharply criticized the no-charge decision and say a civil suit against the sheriff’s office continues. Sheriff Alyshia Dyer said the department will open its own administrative review now that the state criminal review is done.
Section: More Lansing MI crime news
Filed under: Lansing MI Public Safety News
