Family Of Man Killed By Police Seek Answers After Officers Cleared Of Charges [VIDEO]
BLOOMFIELD HILLS (WWJ/AP) - Family members of a parole absconder who was fatally shot by police after leading officers on a chase in suburban Detroit say they're looking for answers after officers were cleared in the case.
Deviere Ransom died Aug. 19 in Bloomfield Hills after a more than 17-mile chase that started in Warren. An Oakland County prosecutor's office review found three officers fired a total of 23 times, striking Ransom 14 times, Mlive.com reported.
Officers from Warren, Troy, Bloomfield Hills were among those involved in the chase, unfolded just before midnight near 12 Mile and Mound roads.
Troy police attempted to stop Random at I-75 but he shot at the officers, striking the cruiser. He then fled northbound on I-75, where Bloomfield Hills police picked up the pursuit.
Ransom eventually crashed into another vehicle at Woodward and Square Lake Road and then took off running. As officers closed in on foot, police say Ransom pointed a gun at them, forcing them to shoot. He was mortally wounded
The prosecutor's office ruled the shooting justified because Ransom was armed with a gun, pointed it at himself and was a public threat.
Despite the police account, Steffvon Ransom says his brother "was just trying to get away."
At the time of his death, Deviere Ransom was on parole after serving a 15 months in prison on a charge of assault by strangulation for choking his then-girlfriend. He was required to wear a GPS tether as a condition of his parole, which he removed before the incident.
According to the Mlive.com report, Deviere Ransom had a fight with a man who was dating his ex-girlfriend's sister just a day before his death. He allegedly asked his ex-girlfriend to meet him in the Meijer parking lot, at 12 Mile and Mound roads, so she could take him to confront the man. But instead of driving to Meijer, the woman called police. Officers were dispatched to the store and when they were spotted by Deviere Ransom, he fled.
Relatives told the newspaper that they've had trouble getting police reports and documents in the wake of his death.
"I don't believe it," Jeane Ransom, his mother, said. "What I want is the officers to tell the truth, which I know isn't going to happen."
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