KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM/FM) — A Kalamazoo Public Safety officer has been written up and given a reprimand, but that will be the extent of the discipline for an incident on Hawley Street a month ago.
Sgt. Derreck Turner had just arrested Antonio Churchwell for drugs. The man in question, Diante Churchwell, was the brother of the arrested suspect who assaulted the sergeant verbally, using racial epithets, and was briefly grabbed by the neck during a scuffle.
NAACP President Strick Strickland said it was not enough, but Kalamazoo County Commissioner Stephanie Moore said it was not a good situation. She said everything she tells her children not to do when dealing with police officers occurred during that confrontation.
Chief Jeff Hadley said the officer was out of policy on that one brief use of force issue, but it was “not malicious or egregious.”
The Churchwells are awaiting prosecution.
We have Hadley’s full statement below:
On Monday, July 10, 2017, Sgt. Derrick Turner was patrolling the 700 block of Hawley Street in response to numerous issues of drug dealing, loitering and gun violence on that specific block and personal requests from residents with whom Sgt. Turner had built a relationship with. Sgt. Turner observed two subjects sitting on the front porch of 735 Hawley Street, a condemned residence. This residence was clearly marked with a bright orange Condemned placard on the front door facing Hawley Street.
Upon his observation, Sgt. Turner immediately turned into the driveway of the above-listed residence and made contact with two subjects who were in clear possession of an open bottle of liquor and were Occupying a Condemned Dwelling.
During his initial contact, Sgt. Turner asked them to keep their hands out of their pockets. One subject complies; the other one does not. Due to officer safety issues relating to recent gun violence, Sgt. Turner grabbed the subject’s hand/arm and ordered him to take his hand out of his pocket. The suspect, identified later as Antonio Churchwell, does not comply and starts to resist Sgt. Turner. While Sgt. Turner is preoccupied with Antonio, the second subject/suspect attempted to pull Sgt. Turner off of Antonio to prevent him from making a lawful arrest. Fearing now that he (Sgt. Turner) would be assaulted by the second subject, Sgt. Turner ordered the second subject to ‘get back’. The subject complied and seconds later, fled the area on foot.
During the struggle with Antonio, Sgt. Turner was able to call for back-up with his portable radio and other KDPS Officers responded to the scene to assist Sgt. Turner. Once Antonio Churchwell was placed in handcuffs, both Sgt. Turner and another PSO searched Antonio’s person as well as the area where Antonio resisted for additional evidence. Located in Antonio’s pants pocket was a bag of suspected crack cocaine.
As PSOs continued their investigation, a second subject walks up to the arrest scene, identified as Antonio’s brother, Diante Churchwell. It is evident from officer’s body cam video, he was displeased with Antonio’s arrest and demanded to speak with the arresting officer. After being advised he would have to wait, he pushed his way through the scene where the arrest took place and vigorously walked toward Sgt. Turner. Diante Churchwell is heard utilizing racially charged language towards Sgt. Turner as he advanced towards him in an aggressive manner coming face to face with Sgt. Turner.
Video clearly captured Diante’s aggravated emotional state in his body language as well as verbal language, which a reasonable person/officer would feel an assault is probable. To prevent a possible assault, Sgt. Turner grabbed Diante’s upper neck with both hands to control his upper body and quickly transitioned his body behind his. The grab around the neck lasted approximately two seconds before Sgt. Turner quickly transitioned to Diante’s arms. Once officers had control of Diante Churchwell he was placed into handcuffs and escorted to a patrol car.
A short time later Antonio and Diante’s father came to KDPS headquarters to ascertain what had occurred with his sons and to discuss the portion of the arrest in which Diante was grabbed by the neck. Lt. Anthony Morgan, who was familiar with Mr. Churchwell spoke with him, sat down and reviewed the available body camera footage with him, and talked through the incident with him.
This was done as a measure of transparency and to give Mr. Churchwell the totality of the circumstances and to operate off of factual information. Prior to Mr. Churchwell filing a complaint with the Office of Professional Standards we began an internal review of the incident. Concurrently Captain Vernon Coakley of the Operations Division met with multiple community leaders in regards to the incident, allowed them to view the body camera videos and discussed the aspects of the incident. Again this was done as a measure of transparency and in an effort for individuals to operate off of factual information.
Subsequently Mr. Churchwell filed a complaint on behalf of his son Diante Churchwell and the Office of Professional Standards conducted an investigation into the facts and circumstances regarding this incident and to determine if Sgt. Turner violated any KDPS policies and/or procedures. They reviewed all available video evidence, conducted interviews of Sgt. Turner and other KDPS personnel directly involved in this incident and attempted to interview Diante Churchwell but were unsuccessful. The Office of Professional Standards did have contact with Mr. Churchwell however he was not a direct witness to this event.
Upon their completion of the investigation and my review of the totality of the circumstances, the applicable KDPS policies, all video evidence and Sgt. Turner’s work history I did sustain the complaint and found that Sgt. Turner violated the Use of Force Policy by utilizing “a subject control method not taught or recommended”. Sgt. Turner was given a Written Reprimand by me for this violation of KDPS Policy.
Sgt. Turner had every right to address the aggressive manner and approach utilized and displayed by Diante Churchwell, however the method he chose was not appropriate for the circumstances and fell outside KDPS policy. I did not find the actions by Sgt. Turner to be malicious or egregious.
Be mindful that Diante Churchwell sought out Sgt. Turner in an agitated state, ignored commands by another officer to step back, used racially charged language at Sgt. Turner and advanced towards him in an aggressive manner.
Sgt. Turner is a dedicated officer who addresses issues in his neighborhoods, has built relationships with the residents and attempts to make their quality of life better by responding to their complaints and needs. In my meeting with Sgt. Turner he was the consummate professional, accepted responsibility and committed to learning from this incident and moving forward.
