![]() The prosecutor used the standard of 'absence of criminal intent' to exonerate National Guardsmen and DPD officers in every fatality classified as accidental, including those caused by firing wildly in violation of express orders it is important to note that these were political and not strictly legal decisions, an prosecution for involuntary manslaughter does not require proof of malicious intent.įatalities in Custody. In addition, eyewitnesses insisted that four of the African American males whose homicides were declared 'justifiable' under the 'fleeing felon' rule were actually in the custody of Detroit police officers or National Guardsmen and murdered. ![]() All eleven of the homicides attributed to the Michigan National Guard were questionable or suspicious, revealing either coverups or accidents based on extreme indiscipline, often both. ![]() The other 18 cases that our project believes were likely wrongful deaths range from innocent people killed by law enforcement crossfire then blamed on unknown snipers, to innocent pedestrians or motorists shot and killed by National Guardsmen who then sought to frame the victims, to innocent people shot as officers fired wildly and then unjustly classified them as alleged looters. The Wayne County Prosecutor exonerated police officers and military troops in all of these homicides except for the three Black teenagers killed at the Algiers Motel, and then only after the DPD coverup unraveled. As recounted below, the cases that strongly indicate coverups-often accompanied by the framing of victims as snipers, arsonists, or fleeing looters-include: Clifton Pryor, Robert Beal, Alphonso Smith, Richard Sims, Henry Denson, Ronald Evans, William Jones, Roy Banks, Arthur Johnson, Perry Williams, Tonia Blanding, John LeRoy, Audrey Pollard, Fred Temple, Carl Cooper, Helen Hall, Larry Post, George Talbert, Albert Robinson, William Dalton, and Ernest Roquemore. In multiple deaths, newspaper reporters interviewed eyewitnesses whose accounts directly contradicted the police version most of the time, the DPD Homicide Bureau did not even try to interview these witnesses. The materials in the public record make it clear that many investigations by the DPD Homicide Bureau and the Wayne County Prosecutor were not thorough or impartial. The prosecutor legally justified these killings, however, because "breaking and entering" was a felony-level offense, and both DPD policy and Michigan law permitted use of force to stop a 'fleeing felon.'Ī Pattern of Coverups. There is solid or strong evidence indicating that DPD officers or National Guardsmen on the scene covered up the circumstances of homicides in at least 21 cases, representing 60 percent of the 35 deaths attributed to law enforcement (this total includes Michigan State Police and U.S. It is also important to emphasize that even if some of the deceased were indeed 'looting' from stores, they were almost always unarmed and shot in the back as they fled, and stealing merchandise was a misdemeanor offense in a state without capital punishment-hardly justification for an execution in the street by DPD officers or National Guardsmen. Reports from the Detroit Police Department and Michigan National Guard-officially responsible for 22 and 11 fatalities, respectively, but likely responsible for more-often omitted crucial details in order to disguise liability or guilt, and often criminalized the deceased by blaming their alleged 'looting' and 'sniping' for the outcome. Many accounts of the cause of death are contradictory, as law enforcement actors, and in some cases civilian witnesses, might have had incentives to distort or fabricate the stories. This page provides a detailed record of these 47 fatalities and a tribute to the those who died. The Detroit Free Press investigation, published 9-3-67, raised questions about potential coverups in a majority of the law enforcement homicides Patterns of Police Brutality/Misconduct.
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