EAST LANSING — Police on May 15 released a narrated video montage from last month’s fatal shooting of Isaiah Kirby following a stabbing incident in the area of Lake Lansing and Abbot roads.
The video was posted late Friday afternoon on a police department website.
Kirby, a 21-year-old senior at Michigan State University, was shot by officers responding to a stabbing call shortly after 6 p.m. April 15. Michigan State Police are investigating the shooting.
“As MSP’s investigation moves forward, ELPD will continue to remain transparent and cooperate with their investigation,” police said in news release on Friday, May 15. “After MSP completes its investigation, the ELPD will conduct its own internal review. ELPD has no further comments at this time.”
The narrated video clip published to the city’s website by police appears to support the department’s description of events soon after they happened. Officers were called regarding a theft or retail fraud at a pizza business, but before they arrived were directed to a stabbing that happened nearby. As they approached their destination, responding officers encountered someone running toward them on Abbot Road with what appeared to be a knife in his hand.
As an officer nears the scene he can be seen loading a 40 mm foam projectile into a weapon, which the department says is a less-than-lethal round. However, the department said “due to the imminent threat presented by the suspect” the officer did not have time to use the weapon.
The video presentation included video culled from police body and vehicle cameras, video recorded on a bystander’s cell phone and some of the 911 radio traffic from the incident.
The video was edited to obscure Kirby’s face.
Kirby appears to have been shot while running toward the arriving police vehicles after officers told him to drop the knife. He appears to have been shot additional times after he was on the ground and police continued to ask him to drop the knife but he did not comply. Eventually, officers used a police shield to hold him down while they pried the knife from his hand, the video shows.
There also is video showing the stabbing victim sitting on the ground, covered in blood, while medics tended to his injuries. That man was identified as Douglas Mielock, a local attorney.
Police did not say how many shots were fired. It wasn’t immediately clear from the video how many shots were fired.
East Lansing police described the incident as a theft call, which turned into a stabbing that led to a fatal shooting by officers. A 911 caller reported that a victim had been stabbed at a neighboring business, and when officers arrived, they shot the stabbing suspect, officials said.
East Lansing police Chief Jennifer Brown said officers found a person covered in blood and holding an object believed to be a knife. Officers ordered the suspect to drop the knife, but they did not, prompting the shooting, she said.
The narrated video timeline was released on the one-month anniversary of Kirby’s death after police met with Kirby’s family and showed them the unredacted video, police said.
Police said they had no video of the stabbing from local businesses or “any material from any of the other responding agencies, including, but not limited to the Michigan State Police.”
East Lansing police on Friday released the names of the officers involved in the shooting. They are Beck Martin, a three-year veteran of the department, Brennan Surman, a two-year veteran, Benjamin Saylor, a one-year veteran, and Zane Johnson Chasteen, who has been with the department for three months and was paired with Martin, a field training officer, officials said in a news release.
Kirby was from Owings Mills, Maryland. His family had called for the release of all unedited video evidence gathered by police. An attorney for the family issued a statement critical of the department’s efforts, describing an earlier version of the video presentation as “highly edited, selectively compiled and deeply one-sided presentation that raises more questions than answers.”
“All we ask for is truth and transparency,” Kirby’s mother, Karyn Kirby, said during a May 12 news conference at Union Missionary Baptist Church in Lansing.
In that news conference, attorney Teresa Caine Bingman called for the release of all raw, unedited video evidence, saying it wasn’t clear what happened from the curated video timeline police initally allowed her and the family to see.
The family released another statement after ELPD posted the narrated video online on Friday, saying it shows officers continued to shoot after Kirby had fallen to the ground, They called it an unreasonable use of deadly force.
“After reviewing multiple complete, unedited body camera footage, dash camera footage, and eyewitness videos, it is clear that Isaiah Kirby was met with an immediate and overwhelming use of deadly force,” the statement said. “Within moments of arriving on the scene, East Lansing police officers did not use non lethal options and immediately fired more than 20 rounds.”
“Nothing we have seen justified this extraordinary level of force that was neither necessary nor warranted under the circumstances,” the statement said. “The family remains committed to pursuing the truth, accountability, and justice for Isaiah Kirby.”
Police had delayed the release of the narrated timeline after talking with family members and their attorney. They said they expanded the timeline released on Friday to include additional video footage.
In a news release issued by East Lansing police on May 12, City Manager Robert Belleman vowed that the police department “will continue to remain transparent and cooperate” with the Michigan State Police investigation of the incident.
“… After further consultation with the MSP about this specific case, our original narrated video is being expanded to include additional footage of the incident,” the statement said. “As a result, later this week, after redactions as appropriate under law are completed, ELPD will release a narrated timeline of the officer-involved shooting, and additional redacted body-worn camera and fleet footage will be made available on the East Lansing website this week at https://www.cityofeastlansing.com/2292/ELPD-Officer-Involved-Shooting. This release will include video footage of the officer involved shooting and aid being rendered to both the stabbing victim and Isaiah Kirby.”
It’s standard practice for state police to investigate incidents in which a local police department used deadly force.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing police release narrated video of fatal shooting of MSU student
Reporting by Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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