The Muskegon Chronicle
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) -- A federal lawsuit has been filed in the death of an unarmed fugitive shot and killed by a deputy U.S. marshal.
Leslie Karum, the mother of Leon Dandredge’s youngest daughter, filed suit last week in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. She is seeking damages from the deputy marshals involved in the shooting, the U.S. marshals service and the U.S. government.
On Aug. 20, 2003, Dandredge, 35, was shot in the face at a female friend’s Muskegon home. He was wanted on an arrest warrant for a parole violation.
Two deputy U.S. marshals -- identified in the lawsuit as Mark Hessler and Ken Groenveld -- had gone to the home about noon that day looking for Dandredge.
According to an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division, Hessler shot Dandredge “out of surprise and fear.” Hessler fired his handgun as Dandredge stood up from beneath a pile of clothing in a dimly lit laundry room in the home’s basement.
Groenveld was on the basement staircase when the shot was fired and did not see it happen.
The federal investigation, completed in March, concluded that Dandredge’s killing was not a crime. The marshals service then launched its own internal investigation to determine whether disciplinary action was warranted.
The results of that investigation have not been released, Karum’s attorneys said.
“We’re alleging that the marshals violated Mr. Dandredge’s constitutional rights when they went to the basement and shot the guy in the head,” Southfield lawyer Paul Broschay told The Muskegon Chronicle. “It obviously was outlandish and irresponsible police procedure.”
The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages of more than $75,000.
It also claims the marshals service and the government failed to properly screen, supervise, discipline and train their officers.
A telephone message seeking comment was left Wednesday at the Grand Rapids office of the marshals service.
Karum is the mother of Brianna Karum, Dandredge’s 7-year-old daughter. If she is certified as the personal representative of Dandredge’s estate, she will be the only party legally authorized to sue over his death.
The case is complicated by a legal dispute over whether Karum or Camellia Faye Thomas, the Arkansas mother of Dandredge’s two older daughters, is the proper representative of the dead man’s estate. A Muskegon County probate judge is scheduled to hear that issue next week.