A Tragedy in Eaton County
Last Friday on my show a listener called in to discuss a 17-year-old's tragic death in an encounter with the Eaton County Sheriff department in February of this year.
This listener had a concern around how a person stopped for flashing their headlights at an approaching car could end up shot and killed by the police. That approaching car was an Eaton County Sheriff’s car. The sheriff pulled the person over and the following is the video from the officer’s body camera:
Tragically the young man was killed and the events that transpired are detailed in an article in the Lansing State Journal.
I spoke about this today on my show and received a lot of your thoughts and opinions on both sides of this issue.
Many believe the officer went too far and never should have shot this young man who ended up attacking the officer.
After reviewing the above body camera video, what are your thoughts?
Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd said he reviewed the investigation by Michigan State Police, video from the police officer's body camera and footage from the cell phone of the 17-year-old young man. Mr. Lloyd found that the Eaton County Sheriff's sergeant's actions in the fatal shooting were lawful. That does not make the tragedy for this family and officer any less heartbreaking. A family has suffered a loss. I can only assume the pain from such a loss will never be reconciled no matter what your child did or did not do.
This is about what happened that night, and first, was it lawful or not, and second, what can be done to improve the procedures by the police to stop this from happening again? That would be if there were no procedures in place to deal with what occurred that night. If there were procedures that were not followed by the Eaton County Sheriff then an appropriate investigation must occur and consequences paid if necessary.
What are your thoughts?
The Live with Renk show, which airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon, to let me know your thoughts at (269) 441-9595.