State trooper found not guilty of excessive force in K-9 arrest

LANSING — A jury on Tuesday acquitted a Michigan State Police trooper charged with assault for allowing his canine partner to bite and harass an immobile man for several minutes nearly three years ago in Lansing.

Authorities claimed Trooper Parker Surbrook used his dog as a dangerous weapon against a man who led officers on a high-speed chase and crashed his vehicle into a tree in November 2020, leaving the suspect lying on the ground with a broken hip and no ability to flee.

But a jury found him not guilty of felonious assault after deliberating for about 2½ hours following a three-day trial.

"We're very grateful to the jury for their verdict," Surbrook's attorney, Patrick O'Keefe, said. "It was obviously a tough trial to sit through, and we're very grateful to the jury for their service. It's a great solace knowing we have people in our community who can come from all walks of life and do justice the way they did."

The incident happened in November 2020 following a pursuit that ended with a crash at the entrance to a housing complex in south Lansing.

Prosecutors contended Surbrook let his dog, Knox, engage on Robert Gilliam for nearly four minutes, even though Gilliam was clearly surrendering and was unable to flee.

Police video shows Gilliam lying on the ground for more than three minutes, with Knox biting and pulling at him or his clothing. Gilliam had his arms extended for most of that time and begged the trooper to call off his dog, Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Kristen Rolph noted Tuesday in her closing argument.

"(Gilliam) is not even trying to get the dog off," Rolph said. "Yes, he fled. Yes, he committed a felony, That doesn't mean that what happened to him was something he deserved."

O'Keefe said Surbrook followed his training in leaving the dog on the suspect until backup officers arrived to help. He said the trooper acted reasonably during "a highly stressful, potentially lethal situation" in which backup officers took an unusually long time to find the scene.

"You can't look at this case with 20/20 hindsight, play Monday morning quarterback to judge (Surbrook's) actions after the fact," said O'Keefe, who urged jurors to consider how things looked to the trooper at the time.

Surbrook didn't know whether Gilliam was armed or whether he was truly incapable of running, and he knew Knox wasn't seriously hurting Gilliam, the attorney said.

Surbrook and Knox were embedded with the Lansing Police Department as part of the Secure Cities Partnership program. They were working with the Lansing department's Violent Crime Impact Team that night. The team of uniformed and undercover officers was working in a high-crime area.

Gilliam, who lived out of state but was visiting friends and family in Lansing, drove to a liquor store with a man he knew only as "Rambo." As the two men left the store, an officer saw what he thought was a gun on "Rambo." Surbrook, who was in a marked state police cruiser, tried to stop Gilliam after he left the store.

Police dash camera video shows Gilliam slowed and pulled to the right, then sped off at high speed. On Friday, Gilliam testified he decided to run from police after "Rambo" told him he had a gun. He was on parole from Oregon at the time and didn't want to be caught with a gun in his vehicle, Gilliam said.

Surbrook broke off the pursuit, which reached speeds of more than 100 mph, and an undercover Lansing officer in an unmarked minivan pulled in front of the state police vehicle and continued following Gilliam. The Durango crashed as Gilliam tried to turn into an apartment complex.

Gilliam said he opened his door and tried to run but collapsed onto the ground because he had broken his hip in the crash. Surbrook arrived on scene and deployed his dog on Gilliam.

Gilliam repeatedly pleaded with Surbrook to call off the dog.

"Please, sir, please. I'm begging you, please, sir," Gilliam said. "He's choking me, sir, please."

A visibly agitated Surbrook repeatedly yelled at Gilliam not to move, saying "I don't care" when Gilliam told him he was hurt.

Warning: This video contains graphic content and expletives.

At the same time, a Lansing officer was occupied with the second suspect on the passenger side of the vehicle. Surbrook went to that side of the vehicle, leaving the dog on Gilliam, after the Lansing officer saw a gun on the ground and called out the weapon. Surbrook grabbed the gun and carried it over to the driver's side of the SUV, where he placed it on the ground.

Surbrook released Knox from Gilliam after backup officers arrived.

Surbrook was placed on unpaid leave, removed from the K-9 team and charged with felonious assault. State police said Surbrook's actions were not in keeping with agency standards and did not "fully align with training and policy for canine handlers." The agency released a full investigative report and dashcam video from the incident in early 2021.

The MSP report said Gilliam didn't appear to be moving aggressively toward Knox, and Surbrook's supervisor said the trooper's report didn't completely document what happened.

Gilliam was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for truthful testimony in the case against Surbrook. He has filed a civil suit against Surbrook and the state in federal court.

A former state police K-9 trainer who worked with Surbrook and Knox testified Tuesday that Knox is a "soft" dog who doesn't bite hard. During the incident in question, the dog's role was to keep the driver stationary and away from any weapons so his handler could keep his distance and help the second officer on scene, the witness said.

"I think (Surbrook) used the dog the way he was trained to use the dog," said Timothy Johnson, who was called by the defense.

At the same time, Johnson said, Surbrook might have made tactical errors in the way he positioned himself and by leaving the gun on the ground in a place where a suspect could potentially get to it.

Surbrook took the witness stand on Monday and became emotional when testifying about Knox, who lived with his family and was with him 24 hours a day.

He said he didn't know if Gilliam was armed and didn't see the dog inflicting serious harm on the suspect.

"We can play all these different angles," he said. "You can second-guess what I did, but I know what my dog did. He was protecting me."

After the trial, O'Keefe noted that prosecutors didn't call a K-9 expert to bolster their theory that Surbrook used excessive force. He said Subrook was "offered up as a sacrifical lamb" for political reasons.

"It's been a really difficult situation to endure; the circumstances when they took (Surbrook's) dog from him and stripped him from his post," O'Keefe said. "It was disappointing to see this become a political witchhunt. It was like they just made a snap decision based on how it looked. I think it's really unfortunate that people didn't get a chance to see the full pciture, and that's obvisouly why we have trials."

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: State trooper found not guilty of excessive force in K-9 arrest