KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Two deadly crashes. Two different charging decisions.
On Tuesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against a Michigan State trooper for the death of 25-year-old Samuel Sterling, while Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker separately announced charges against a teenage suspect in the death of Riley Doggett, choosing not to prosecute the deputy who struck the 17-year-old during a chase.
“I did not find basis to charge the officer,” Becker said in a press conference.
In Sterling’s case, though, Nessel called now-identified Det/Sgt. Brian Keely’s actions “legally, grossly negligent,” charging him with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for hitting and killing the 25-year-old man with an unmarked police car as Sterling ran from the Michigan State Police Sixth District Fugitive team.
Despite similarities in the cases, Lewis Langham, a professor emeritus at WMU’s Cooley Law School and a retired MSP detective, sees differences between the crashes that could have led to the different charging decisions.
“They were both looking for the same set of facts,” said Langham, viewing video of the crashes. “Whether or not there was gross negligence?”
In Sterling’s case, Langham says the manner in which Keely’s unmarked car turned toward Sterling in a Kentwood Burger King parking lot, colliding with him and pinning him against the restaurant wall, likely led to Nessel’s charging decision.
“They have to engage in the safest manner possible and sometimes it just doesn't turn out, right?” he said.
Conversely, the professor emeritus said Doggett’s case appeared to be “more of an accident than anything else,” due to how “the deputy’s vehicle didn’t move right or left,” as it drove up and alongside Doggett, leading up to the collision. Kent County deputies believed Doggett and the other suspect were in possession of a stolen vehicle connected to several crimes across the county.
“They have a lot of authority in charging decisions,” said Langham about Becker and Nessel. “I don't think they make those decisions lightly.”
Langham also noted that charging decisions can vary from prosecutor to prosecutor.
"It’s a tragic incident, to all involved,” Langham said.
Gross Negligence and Use of Force
As experts have made clear, both cases come down to "gross negligence."
According to state law, Michigan uses the definition of gross negligence contained in the Government Tort Liability Act, which says gross negligence is "conduct so reckless as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury results."
“The state police sergeant, doing what he did, and following Mr. Sterling running, there was absolutely nothing wrong with that," Langham explained. "That's not where the issue came in. The issue that came in is whether or not the vehicle operated by the state police sergeant was grossly negligent when he moved into the path of Mr. Sterling.”
FOX 17 has looked into the Use of Force policies for both Michigan State Police and the Kent County Sheriff's Office.
MSP's can be found on the state website.
It states, in part, "deadly force shall be exercised only when all other reasonable efforts to subdue the subject have failed or reasonable efforts cannot succeed without endangering the life of the enforcement member or others."
FOX 17 reached out to KCSO for its own policies and have yet to receive them. However, no matter what they are, Langham said they don't hold up in court.
“Because you can actually be in violation of your use-of-force policy, but not the violation of the law," he said. "The use-of-force policies are just extra restrictions that departments placed on their members to try to reduce injury or death in the apprehension of suspects.”
RELATED: Kent County sheriff reacts to deputy not charged in teen's death
Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young told FOX 17 Tuesday it's hard to apply the same set of policies to every incident because every incident is different. She used Doggett's case as an example.
“(Deputy Josiah McMains') cruiser has four seconds from the time it turns in off the roadway," she said. "Again, multiple suspects. This officer, at the moment he's pulling in, is alone. And in this context, he notices a neighborhood behind the parking lot where it's the time, that evening, where people are out. You can see other people out in the community, out in harm's way, potentially. That, again, is part of what the policy requires — that they assess what the surrounding circumstances are, what other jeopardies might be there. He did that in the way that we would have expected him to.”
Despite avoiding charges from Kent County Prosecutor Christopher Becker, McMains still faces an internal investigation by the sheriff's office. LaJoye-Young expects that to be finished by the end of the week, but said McMains is expected to return to full duty in the near future.
READ MORE: Sterling's family reacts to charges against trooper for son's death
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