Appeals court: Judge erred in tossing evidence against man shot by East Lansing police

EAST LANSING — The state Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court ruling that would have softened the case against a man who was charged with various crimes after being shot by police outside an East Lansing store in April 2022.

The three-judge appellate panel ruled Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina erred by suppressing evidence of a firearm against DeAnthony VanAtten. Aquilina ruled police officers didn't have adequate grounds to stop him and search him.

"I think this is a close call, but it's also indicative of racial profiling," Aquilina said in July 2023 while granting a motion to suppress evidence on grounds the officers violated VanAtten's Fourth Amendment right against illegal search and seizure. The judge noted VanAtten was "simply a young Black man with a face mask in a Meijer's."

The judge said the officers didn't see VanAtten commit a crime and didn't have enough information to believe he was going to do so, despite a 911 caller's report that someone matching VanAtten's description had run into the store with a gun. Police should have done more work to verify the tip, the judge said.

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But in their April 25 ruling, Appeals Court Judges Michael Gadola, Stephen Borrello and Sima Patel vacated Aquilina's ruling and sent the case back to circuit court for further proceedings. The judges sided with the state Attorney General's Office, which is prosecuting the case.

Chief Ingham County Public Defender Keith Watson did not immediately respond to a telephone message on Wednesday, and it was unclear if the office would seek an appeal to the state Supreme Court.

VanAtten, now 22, was shot by police in the parking lot of the Meijer store on Lake Lansing Road in April 2022 after someone called 911 to report seeing a masked man grab a gun from a car and run into the store.

East Lansing officers chased VanAtten inside the store and into the parking lot after he ignored their commands to stop. Two officers fired a total of eight rounds after one of them saw VanAtten with a handgun that was later found beneath a parked car. VanAtten's fingerprints were found on the weapon, police said.

VanAtten was hit by two of the bullets but recovered.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel later cleared the officers of any wrongdoing and charged VanAtten with seven felony counts and one misdemeanor. The felony charges included four counts of assaulting or obstructing police and one count each of carrying a concealed weapon, receiving and concealing a stolen firearm and felony firearm possession. VanAtten also was charged with one count of third-degree retail fraud, a misdemeanor.

Aquilina in July granted a defense motion to suppress evidence obtained from what she concluded was an illegal search and seizure, saying she believed the case "falls in the gray." The public defender's office argued the officers hadn't properly verified an anonymous tip before they seized VanAtten.

The appeal centered on two main legal issues: When VanAtten was seized by police and whether the 911 caller was "anonymous" and gave reliable information.

The appellate panel noted the caller left her name and telephone number and eventually agreed to meet with officers at the scene. And it concluded there was no seizure until VanAtten was shot. VanAtten's decision to run from the officers corroborated the information they got from the caller, the panel wrote.

"...It appears that the trial court erred in this case by either failing to determine when defendant was seized or perhaps suggesting, as defendant argues on appeal, that defendant was seized as soon as he ran from the officers."

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Appeals court: Judge erred in tossing evidence against man shot by East Lansing police