DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit Police officers involved in two deadly shootings will not face criminal charges.
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday that officers were justified in the 2022 shooting of 27-year-old Kiazia Miller. The prosecutor's office also stated that the 2021 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Michael Contrell Adams III was justified.
Officers were called to Miller's home in the 15770 block of Meyers Road on November 10, 2022. The caller, Miller's mother, told officers that her daughter was undergoing a mental health crisis and there was extra concern because Miller's seven-year-old and one-year-old were also in the home.
Body cam video, video on Miller's phone and officers' reports are said to prove authorities tried to persuade the woman to allow them inside to talk and to check on the children. A stand-off with Miller ensued. Police stayed in contact with Miller’s mother by phone from her car, after she fled the home with Miller's grandmother. She informed them that Miller was suicidal and had threatened to kill her children and shoot police.
Officers said they observed Miller with a gun. Miller informed police of the weapon and told police they could "shoot it out." Miller came out onto her front porch and exchanged words with officers before two rushed the door and made entry. Body cam video indicates Miller did not drop the gun when instructed. Officers and the woman struggled over the weapon and Miller is said to have turned the barrel toward an officer's head. As they continued to struggle, she hit that officer's head with the gun and he heard multiple gunshots.
According to the prosecution, three other officers opened fire in defense of the officers inside the home and themselves. Miller was shot three times. Body cam footage shows a gun under her hand on a stair.
She was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead. The officer involved in the struggle was treated and released later in the day. Miller's seven-year-old son, who was allegedly injured when his mother "jumped on" him and his grandmother, was found upstairs holding his one-year-old sibling.
The prosecutor's office stated that under Michigan law, a person can act in self-defense or defense of others if there is an honest and reasonable belief that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent the imminent death or
imminent bodily harm to himself or another individual.
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According to a Press Release Friday, there is insufficient evidence to charge the officers and their actions were justified.
The other case stems from a shooting more than two years ago on August 8, 2021. Nineteen-year-old Michael Contrell Adams III was shot after pointing a gun at officers, who were undercover and working a drag racing assignment on the city's east side.
The officers' car was hit by another that was doing donuts in the middle of East Grand Boulevard. Both vehicles suffered extensive damage. All four occupants of the 2021 Charger ran from the vehicle. However, investigators said Eastpointe resident, Adams, ran back to the front passenger side of the car, reached into the car and grabbed a gun. After officers told Adams to drop the weapon, he pointed the gun at police, one of whom then fired three shots. Adams continued running and eventually collapsed.
Responding officers found the suspect at the end of a trail of blood droplets, approximately 50 feet north of Trombley Street on East Grand Blvd. Adams’ gun was recovered at the scene near the passenger front door of the 2021 Charger. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead just after midnight on August 9.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s autopsy showed that Adams’ death was caused by three through and through gunshot wounds.
Prosecutors said witnesses in the area were interviewed in the case and have many credibility issues that did not support criminal charges of the officers in the case.
Since the two officers in the crash were undercover, they were not wearing body cameras. Instead, surveillance video obtained from a business located in the 2440 block of East Grand Blvd. corroborates that following the crash, the passengers in the 2021 Charger ran away and Adams ran back to presumably get the gun. The first officer exited his car and his gun raised, backed away from Adams as he fired shots.
The prosecutor said this supports the idea that the officer is aware a weapon is present and is trying to distance himself from it. Video showed that when Adams refused the request to drop the gun, the officer fired his own weapon in defense of himself and his partner. Adams’ gun was seen in video near the car before he fled.
In this case, the prosecutor said officers' acted properly under the circumstances and the warrant request will be denied.
The people who fled from the car, which was stolen from Dearborn in May that year, were never identified.
The Prosecutor's office said in both cases, officers were acting in self defense.
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