KENTWOOD, Mich. — A retired Michigan State Police detective says the deadly interaction between a wanted man and police task force on Wednesday was not justified, and probably not intentional.
FOX 17 spoke with Lewis Langham, a professor emeritus at Cooley Law School and retired MSP detective lieutenant on Friday, April 19, two days after Samuel Sterling was hit by an unmarked police cruiser during an attempt to arrest him. Sterling, who MSP says was absconding from conditions of his probation, later died from his injuries.
"The officers in this particular case... they weren't justified in using deadly force," said Langham. "This is the situation you have to look at — an automobile, firearm, I mean, all those things could be considered deadly weapons."
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"This is not a situation where deadly force would have been justified by any stretch of the imagination," Langham added.
Langham went on to say he doesn't believe officers intended to hit Sterling with the vehicle. "There probably [wasn't] any intent to hit the individual. [It] was probably more to cut the individual off...You have to assume that there was no intent to hit Mr. Sterling."
While Sterling's felony convictions were for non-violent crimes, Langham says officers treat all suspects on the run with the same level of caution.
"You never know when someone may be in a situation where, 'I just don't want to go back to prison or to jail,' and decide to harm you. So, you treat these things as though everyone is considered, you know, somewhat dangerous and armed, because you never know...how someone's going to react in these situations," Langham said. "Police officers are going to always make that assumption that that party could have a firearm — the same as a traffic stop for speeding. So, you're always going to be on guard for those things."
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Langham also addressed whether officers went too far in their use of a cruiser in a busy retail area.
"[Officers] always, always are trained and have to consider whether the population the pursuit, are they doing it in a congested area? Are there other people around? And if so, you know, what factors are you taking to mitigate any damages or to mitigate any one being injured,"said Langham. "But that doesn't mean accidents can happen, even though you're doing it in a safe manner."
As for whether the officer could face criminal charges for Sterling's death, Langham says it's unlikely.
"The prosecutor would have to show, and would want to show, that there was an intent to create great bodily harm or death, which is what occurred," said Langham. "That standard [would] be extremely difficult to meet. Unless, unless there was some audio somewhere where the officer is saying, 'I've got him...and I'm going to hit him.'"
Langham emphasized that we probably won't know much more until MSP completes its investigation.
"We can only wait for the investigation to wrap up," he added.
Watch FOX 17's full interview with Langham below.
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