Man fatally shot by Detroit police during traffic stop; officer dragged 20 yards
A man was shot and killed by Detroit police and an officer was dragged 20 yards with a vehicle Wednesday evening during a traffic stop on the city's west side, according to police.
Officers pulled the driver over at about 10:15 p.m. at Fenkell Avenue and Southfield Road; Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald said he had failed to use a turn signal at the intersection. Later Thursday afternoon, police revealed the officers involved were assigned to a gang intelligence unit.
Once pulled over, the driver refused to provide identification, police said.
Fitzgerald said the driver attempted to drive off, and an officer reached inside the vehicle with his leg and stepped on the brake pedal, attempting to stop the vehicle, but was dragged about 20 yards.
The officer's partner entered the struggle by attempting to deploy a Taser, which, according to Fitzgerald, did not take. The driver put the vehicle in reverse, Fitzgerald said, and the officer was dragged again as the man drove backward.
The officer who was dragged then fired two shots at the driver, striking him in the upper chest, police said. He was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The officer was also hospitalized and was treated for injuries, Fitzgerald said.
The entirety of the struggle happened in less than a minute, according to police — "A lot was happening," Fitzgerald said.
A passenger in the vehicle was taken into custody for questioning and was later released, police said.
A Glock with an extended magazine and switch, "rendering it fully automatic," police said, was recovered from the driver's side floorboard. The weapon was a ghost gun, police said, which are guns with no serial number and are unregulated and untraceable.
It wasn't clear whether officers saw the gun prior to the fatal shooting.
A scale, cash and a large amount of drugs were also recovered, including oxycodone, crack cocaine, ecstasy, promethazine and marijuana, police said.
The man killed was out on bond while facing charges of receiving and concealing a stolen vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon, police said.
Both officers involved in the struggle have more than five years on the force, Fitzgerald said.
Body camera footage should be released within 45 days on YouTube, per Detroit Police Chief James White's recent commitment to routinely release footage of police shootings and other critical incidents within that time frame.
The Detroit Police Board of Commissioners is pushing the Detroit Police Department to release footage within 12 days under a similar recommendation. The board drafted a city ordinance that will be proposed to the City Council.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misreported which officer fired the fatal shots, based on initial information provided by police. It was in fact the officer who was dragged by the vehicle who shot the driver.
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at 313-264-0442 or asahouri@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit police shoot man after officer dragged during traffic stop
