Attorneys release video of deadly cruiser crash
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The attorneys for the family of a Grand Rapids man who died after being hit by an unmarked police cruiser during a foot chase have released footage of the crash, calling for transparency and a thorough investigation.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and attorney Ven Johnson of Michigan held a news conference Friday at Renaissance Church of God in Christ in Grand Rapids, alongside family members of Samuel Sterling and former Kent County commissioner Robert S. Womack. Crump and Johnson are representing Sterling’s family.
“We are going to get justice for Samuel Sterling. And how are we going to do it? We are going to do it together, as a community,” Crump said. “…We are going to fight together so they know that you can’t run over our children, using a police cruiser like a deadly weapon.”
At the conference, organizers showed video of the crash. Crump said the footage had been obtained by the family but did not explain further.
A copy of the video was shared with News 8. The video, which appears to be security footage from the inside of a restaurant, shows — through a window — a man running, then being hit from behind by a vehicle. A group of people run toward the vehicle. After several seconds, the vehicle backs up slightly. News 8 is not releasing the video in its entirety because of its graphic nature, but an edited version can be seen below.
Crump questioned why police had not released any video.
“A lot of times, it’s their M.O. to delay, delay, delay and then try to sweep it under the rug,” he said. “Well, we ain’t going to let them sweep it under the rug.”
Father: Death of son hit by police car ‘senseless’
Crump called for authorities to be “transparent” and “honest,” pressing for a “thorough investigation” into the force used as well as what happened after Sterling was hit by the cruiser.
“The aftermath after they hit him with the car is just as important,” he said.
Troopers say 25-year-old Sterling, who was wanted on outstanding warrants, ran away when they found him in Kentwood on April 17. Several officers chased him on foot and an MSP detective sergeant in an unmarked car “drove parallel to him,” the MSP director said in a statement last week. The unmarked cruiser hit Sterling in the parking lot of a nearby Burger King, police say. He was taken to the hospital, where he died hours later.
His death certificate indicated he sustained “multiple blunt force injuries” in the crash. The manner of death was listed as “accident,” a county administrator clarified that “does not preclude the prosecutor from pursuing a case if warranted by the evidence and applicable law.”
The MSP detective sergeant who was driving the unmarked car was suspended while the agency investigates what happened. Crump and Sterling’s family on Friday called for the officer’s name and record to be released.
Death certificate: Man hit by unmarked cruiser had ‘multiple blunt force injuries’
The Michigan attorney general will review the evidence and decide what, if any, charges are appropriate.
Johnson, who, with Crump, is representing Sterling’s family, said Friday that Attorney General Dana Nessel had called and offered her condolences to the family.
Nessel told him that her office’s investigation has already started, with two “highly experienced prosecutors” on the case, he said.
“She assured me that they are on this case and that they have instructed those folks to not work on any other case but this one,” Johnson said.
Friday evening, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI Field Office Detroit also released a joint statement on the case, saying they were “monitoring the ongoing state investigation into the circumstances that led to the tragic death of Samuel Sterling.”
“We will continue to coordinate with our state and local law enforcement partners,” the statement continued. “If in the course of the state investigation, evidence reveals a potential violation of federal criminal statutes, we will take appropriate action.”
Sterling, 25, was a father of two young sons and a rapper, according to his family. His mother, Andrica Cage, remembered his beautiful dimpled smile and previously called him a “really loving, caring little boy” who “brought a lot of brightness to this world.”
“This is a pain that I wouldn’t wish on no mother. That was my baby at the end of the day,” she said Friday.
Sterling’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Brown’s Funeral Home in Grand Rapids, preceded by a friends and family hour starting at 10 a.m.
A GoFundMe account has been organized to help cover cremation expenses and to support the family.
Crump and Johnson are also representing the family of Patrick Lyoya, who was shot and killed by a Grand Rapids police officer two years ago. That officer, Christopher Schurr, was ultimately charged with second-degree murder and his case is still making its way through the court system.
Lyoya’s funeral in April 2022 was held at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ.
— News 8’s Taylor Morris contributed to this report.
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