By Amber Hunt
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT, Mich. — A 27-year-old man who drew a gun as he ran from Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans and two police officers was shot and injured Wednesday night on the city’s north side.
The man is hospitalized in serious condition with a gunshot wound to his side, said Deputy Chief James Tolbert.
Per department protocol, Evans is now under investigation for his role in the shooting. The chief, who has been walking beats with officers about three times a week since his July appointment, did not fire his weapon, Tolbert said.
The names of the other two officers involved were not released today.
Lt. Dwane Blackmon of the Homicide Division said the chief will be investigated just like any other officer involved in a shooting. After an internal investigation is finished, the investigators’ report will be submitted to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
Tolbert said the chief and the two officers were walking along Yacama between Lantz and Emery when they spotted two young men walking in the middle of the street instead of on the sidewalk. When the officers approached, both of the men “turned and ran as though they were armed,” Tolbert said.
The officers and chief ordered the men to stop. The 19-year-old surrendered, police said, but the 27-year-old kept running. As the chief and one of the officers uncovered a handgun on the man who surrendered, the 27-year-old turned with a handgun drawn toward the other officer, who opened fire.
Police shootings of civilians led in large measure to the 2003 federal consent decrees mandating departmental reforms. A Free Press investigation had found that officers were often cleared in suspicious shootings after cursory investigations.
The consent decrees lay out strict protocol for investigating police shootings, calling for a so-called Force Investigation between internal affairs and the homicide unit to determine what criminal charges might be filed and whether the officers involved followed police procedure.
As he took over the top cop job this summer, Evans said one of his biggest priorities was ensuring that the department became in compliance with the mandates of the consent decrees.
At the scene, Tolbert said those mandates now map out how the chief’s role in the incident will be investigated.
Evans has said his goal in joining officers on their beat patrols is to better grasp what challenges and dangers they face on the streets.
Copyright 2009 Detroit Free Press