ALLEGAN COUNTY, Mich. — The family of Joseph Nagle, 22, gathered at the spot where he died on a rural Allegan County road Thursday with one thing in mind: justice.
They gathered near the intersection of 136th and 26th.
"There’s something wrong here. There’s something horribly, horribly wrong here,” Kelly Nagle, Joseph's mom, said.
Nagle was shot and killed by an Allegan County deputy on June 16. The Allegan County Sheriff's office says it started out as a traffic stop for a DUI, and that Nagle got into an altercation with the deputy.
The family says that's not like Joseph. He looked up to law enforcement officers, studied to be a police officer at Grand Rapids Community College, and ultimately decided not to go into law enforcement because he didn't like guns.
Michigan State Police say that the deputy did not deploy their taser. Nagle was unarmed when he died.
"I want to know why," Kelly said.
Answers, Kelly says she fears she will never get. The deputy had no recording device in their patrol vehicle.
“I don’t want any other family to go through this again, ever,” Kelly said.
At the tearful memorial, Kelly says she knows her son's death wasn't in vain.
She wants the name of the deputy involved. She wants to see her son, and give him a proper funeral and burial, and she wants everyone to know her son's name.
“Something needs to change, something has to come out of this. If they needed my star athlete, my golden boy to do it.. we need it. It had to happen. I know it’s in God's hands. Joe told me that before he passed. That’s the only thing I got out of this. He found God,” Kelly said.
