Skip to main content

Michigan Deputy Kills Drug Suspect Dragging Him With Car

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #719)
Consequences of Prohibition

A Wayne County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a drug suspect whose car was dragging him down the street Monday evening. The man, who is yet unidentified, becomes the sixth person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to local media citing police sources, Wayne County sheriff's deputies witnessed a suspected drug buy and moved in to make an arrest. The suspect appeared to be cooperating until a tow truck arrived, when he then bolted back into his car and tried to drive away. A deputy grabbed onto the car and was dragged down the street. He opened fire when the suspect refused to heed his commands to stop.

"The suspect jumped back into the car, took off. One of my deputies was next to the car. He attempted to stop him from taking the car, grabbed a hold of him and he was dragging him down the street," said Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. "He was being dragged down the street," Napoleon explained. "After several orders to stop, the deputy fired twice."

The suspect died at the scene, the sheriff said. The deputy, a veteran undercover narcotics officer, was hospitalized in serious condition, but is expected to recover.

The sheriff said the dead man appeared to be cooperating until he suddenly dashed for freedom.

"The process was almost over, and I guess something about seeing the car go on the tow truck must have really set him off and he decided he didn't want his car towed," Napoleon said.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Anonymous234567 (not verified)

Why not have just let the car go and found it later. The officers already had this fellows information. Almost 2 lives lost on a wasted policy, and one taken unnecessarily. I don't question that the officer had to react to protect himself and his life, but if this fellow had "gotten away" how long would it have taken to track him down again, really? I can't imagine long.

 

I guess that's just my take on the whole thing. What do I know anyway...

 

Tue, 01/31/2012 - 11:33am Permalink
Rick Carufel (not verified)

The police have once again managed to escalate a simple drug sale into a murder.  The line the deputy was being dragged down the street is a lie.  He voluntarily grabbed onto the car and merely had to let go.  Rather than do that he murdered the guy. 

Tue, 01/31/2012 - 11:55pm Permalink
mjjoan (not verified)

it's idiots like this guy that make those of us that use MJ legally look bad. Why run? They already got ya and got your ID they know who you are. did he really think he was gonna get away? He deserved what he got. 

Wed, 02/01/2012 - 9:42am Permalink
Pigs suck (not verified)

Just another piece of evidence that our police officers are not doing there job arnt they supposed to protect and serve not attack and murder!
Thu, 02/02/2012 - 4:35pm Permalink
McD (not verified)

"...he decided he didn't want his car towed," Napoleon said."

Nice, healthy, compassionate, public-spirited sense of humour for a public servant.

Sat, 02/04/2012 - 7:27am Permalink
strangepuppy (not verified)

Deserved to die? You don't need anyone to help you look bad sweetheart. There is a marked attitude of superiority among those lucky enough to live in "legal" states, and it is as ugly as the one that caused the death of this poor soul.   

Mon, 02/06/2012 - 8:23pm Permalink
Brian Jensen (not verified)

unless the car was going in reverse and the guy scooped the cop up with the door, i'm pretty sure he could have let go of the door.  maybe he would've done a roll and the guy would've got away for a few hours, but how cold do you have to be to think that's worse than killing someone?  i hope all his fellow cops beat him with soap for shaming them - but they won't and that's why people hate the police.  FTP

Mon, 02/13/2012 - 11:56am Permalink

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.