KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Editor’s Note – This story has been updated as of 3:55 p.m.
One lingering question over the death of Sheriff’s Sergeant Ryan Proxmire last summer is why it took over 25 minutes to discover that he had been shot.
A press conference was held Wednesday afternoon.
Proxmire was in a high-speed pursuit with several other officers on the evening of August 14.
They were trying to stop a fleeing felon when he was shot in the head and his patrol vehicle rolled to a stop along a rural county road, partly blocking traffic, it’s lights and siren still on.
Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Sergeant Ryan Proxmire
Four drivers called 911 to report the cruiser, and they were told by dispatchers it was blocking traffic from the crime scene down the road.
Dispatch Authority Director Jeff Troyer said they had no reason to believe he had been shot, only that his cruiser had been disabled by debris coming off the suspect’s trailer.
“Two of the callers have indicated that there’s no cop around, but as such, as an individual would have driven past the cruiser, Sergeant Proxmire could not be seen,” Troyer said at the conference.
12 minutes later, one passerby peeked in, saw Proxmire bleeding and dialed 911.
Immediately after, a KDPS officer arrived on scene and began CPR on the wounded deputy.
Sheriff Richard Fuller says all attention and radio traffic was focused at the scene of a gunfight with the suspect, which was happening down the road. The suspect, 35-year-old Kyle Goidosik of Vicksburg, was killed in the gunfight.
“That, coupled with all the information anybody would have had at that time, lead everyone to believe there was no other situation than the active shooter,” Fuller said.
State Police Post Commander Scott Ernstes said at the release of the tapes that he is offended that the conduct of the officers that day is being questioned.
“We can sit here and judge all day, but frankly from our investigation on the criminal side, there’s only one person to blame in this,” Ernstes said. “I won’t even say his name, but it’s the killer that killed Sergeant Proxmire. Other than that, everyone seemed to do what was right.”
Both the Sheriff’s Department and 911 dispatch have reviewed what happened to determine if any protocols were missed, or should be changed, and have made no such recommendations.
— Copy written by John McNeil —
Further Reading –
On Tuesday, State Rep. Julie M. Rogers introduced a bill to designate a portion of highway U.S. 131 in Kalamazoo County as the “Sergeant Ryan J. Proxmire Memorial Highway.”
More on that story can be viewed here.
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