Judge orders DeWitt police officer to stand trial for chasing, pulling gun on Black delivery driver
ST. JOHNS — A judge ruled Friday there was enough evidence for a DeWitt police officer to stand trial on charges of misconduct in office and felonious assault.
The charges stem from a Jan. 14, 2021, incident where off-duty DeWitt Police Officer Chad Vorce is accused of following a Lansing State Journal newspaper delivery driver from his neighborhood, pointing a gun at him and pursuing him to a nearby gas station where he again pulled his gun on him.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged Vorce in April with misconduct in office, a felony firearms enhancement and felonious assault.
Vorce had no authority to follow Alexander Hamilton, the then-19-year-old driver, nor to pull his gun on him, Assistant Attorney General Shawn Ryan said Friday.
"The defendant never had to follow him, never had to pull into that gas station," Ryan said. "Mr. Hamilton was driving away...but he chose to do it anyways."
Vorce's attorney, Patrick O'Keefe, said Vorce was exercising his right to self defense. Vorce told police during the investigation that he thought Hamilton was trying to ram him with his van. O'Keefe said Vorce was acting as a private citizen but was unable to turn off the training he had as a police officer.
Gratiot County District Court Judge Stewart McDonald, who was appointed by the state to hear the case, determined there was enough evidence for Vorce to stand trial as charged.
"The actions (Vorce) took...were intended to be authoritative, intimidating and to cause fear and force Mr. Hamilton to comply," McDonald said. "It was not Mr. Hamilton who was continuing the engagement and who refused to let it go. If Mr. Vorce would've stopped, none of this would've happened."
Vorce is also facing a federal lawsuit filed by Hamilton alleging Vorce violated his civil rights.
What led to Vorce drawing his gun
Vorce was leaving his DeWitt home at about 7 a.m. Jan. 14 to take his teenage son to school when he saw a parked minivan he thought looked suspicious, according to the department's internal review.
He pulled up beside Hamilton, and asked if he was lost or if he needed anything. Hamilton told Vorce, "I'm just doing me," Hamilton testified Friday. He said he was bagging newspapers before delivering them.
Original incident: DeWitt police officer fired for off-duty excessive force, pulling gun on delivery driver
Arbitrator decision: DeWitt police officer who pulled gun on Black delivery driver reinstated by arbitrator
Charges, lawsuit filed: DeWitt officer who pulled gun on delivery driver faces felony charges, federal lawsuit
Vorce backed up his truck and sat parked several houses behind Hamilton, Hamilton testified. Hamilton yelled out his window to ask Vorce what he wanted, he said.
He asked Vorce to leave him alone. Unsure if Vorce heard him, Hamilton backed up to try to park parallel to Vorce so he could talk to him. Vorce backed up as well, then Hamilton drove off.
Hamilton left the neighborhood and turned onto Airport Road, then stopped on the right shoulder of the road, he said. Vorce followed him, so Hamilton turned around to go back into the neighborhood to continue delivering papers.
At this point, Vorce had called 911 and asked for an officer to come to his area, according to the taped call. He reported that there had been recent reports in the area of vehicle larcenies and a stolen vehicle with a similar suspect description. He told dispatch about the man, describing him as: "Black hoodie, freaking Black guy, 'doing me.'"
"I'm gonna go shots fired if he does it again," Vorce told dispatch. "This one's going to turn out really bad if someone doesn't get here now."
DeWitt Police Department Chief Bruce Ferguson testified Friday that Hamilton and the suspect in the vehicle thefts did not look anything alike — their only similarities were being young, Black men.
At one point Vorce told police he thought the driver was trying to ram him when he backed up. Another time, he said he didn't know if the driver was going to pull out a gun and shoot him.
Hamilton feared he would be shot
As Hamilton turned around to continue delivering papers, he saw Vorce had backed up and gotten out of his truck, Hamilton said. When he saw Vorce pointing a gun at him, he turned around again and continued on Airport Road toward the Sunoco Tailgaters gas station.
"All I seen was a gun, and I left," Hamilton said. "I was scared he was gonna shoot me."
Vorce followed Hamilton to Tailgaters. Hamilton said he was going "pretty fast" and Vorce was right behind him. It felt like Vorce was chasing him, Hamilton said.
Hamilton pulled into the gas station, thinking he would be safer in a public place, he testified. He circled the gas pumps several times and Vorce followed, at one point cutting through one of the rows to try to cut Hamilton off, according to surveillance video from the gas station.
"I didn't want to stop," Hamilton said. "I was afraid if I stopped he would've had an easy shot or an easy kill."
Hamilton said when he saw a police vehicle coming up Airport Road with its lights flashing, he pulled up in front of Vorce so their vehicles were face-to-face.
Vorce jumped out of the pickup and yelled "police" as he pointed a gun at Hamilton, Hamilton said. Vorce kept his gun pointed at Hamilton, according to surveillance footage.
If Vorce had been acting in self defense as a private citizen, as O'Keefe argued, he would not have identified himself as a police officer or used the emergency lights he had outfitted his pickup truck with, Ryan said.
"He knew he was off duty, he knew he was outside of his jurisdiction," Ryan said.
A DeWitt police officer, Clyde Smith, was first on the scene. Michigan State Police Trooper Luke Shafer pulled up shortly after. Hamilton and Vorce were arguing and yelling at each other, Shafer testified.
Shafer testified that when he arrived, there was "no de-escalation going on whatsoever." He said he would have expected a police officer to try to de-escalate the situation, whether they were on or off duty.
He said he tried multiple times to get Vorce to go back to his truck, but he refused. He did not calm down until Hamilton was handcuffed and placed into Smith's patrol car, Shafer said.
A witness who was pumping gas at the time said Vorce yelled "all you have to do is answer me" at Hamilton, who responded with: "I don't have to talk to you."
At one point before Shafer and Smith arrived, Vorce told Hamilton he was going to shoot him, the witness told police. The witness said if the other officers had not shown up and acted professionally, he thinks Hamilton would have been shot.
Vorce told Hamilton while he considers himself a responsible gun owner, this was Clinton County and "you do this to somebody else out here, they may just haul out and shoot you," according to police reports.
Clinton County Prosecutor Tony Spagnuolo originally declined to file charges, citing prosecutorial discretion, proof issues and that Hamilton did not want to pursue charges.
Vorce was fired in May 2021 for operating outside of his jurisdiction, using excessive force, failing to de-escalate the situation, having an inappropriate tone and demeanor and violating the department's social media policy by contacting the Lansing State Journal using his city email account, also identifying himself as an officer.
“Vorce’s conduct and behavior on the morning of 01/14/21 brought disrespect to himself and the DeWitt City Police Department,” officials noted in the internal investigation.
He was reinstated to the department by an arbitrator, though before the Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards could make a decision on his license, Nessel's office filed charges, making the commission's decision moot. He was put on unpaid leave after charges were filed.
Vorce is not able to be a police officer while he has felony charges pending.
Contact reporter Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: DeWitt cop ordered to stand trial for pulling gun on Black delivery man
