East Lansing Police Department release video of Isaiah Kirby shooting

The East Lansing Police Department released videos May 15 showing the fatal police shooting of Isaiah Kirby on April 15.

The department released six body camera videos, three dashcams, a witness cell phone video and a 22-minute narrated video.

The video shows victim Douglas Mielock, a local attorney, sitting bloody and unresponsive on the ground as bystanders say he was stabbed in the face after leaving a barbershop. Mielock was in intensive care for several days.

In the critical moments before Kirby was shot by police, he is seen on the videos running down a street with an object in his hand that appears to be a knife, in the direction of officers as they speed in vehicles toward him.

There were only seconds between when officers parked and the first shot was fired.

The videos show three distinct barrages of police gunfire with significant pauses over about 20 seconds, and show Kirby moving and screaming in pain as well as him getting aid after police use a shield and pull what appears to be a knife from his hand.

East Lansing Police previously said they do not have video footage of the alleged stabbing or surveillance video from nearby businesses.

The police shooting is under investigation by Michigan State Police, which is routine.

Kirby’s family put out a statement after the release of the videos, saying the raw footage of the videos shows that lethal force was not justified.

Kirby, 21, was a Maryland native planning to graduate from Michigan State University this month. His mother, Karyn Kirby, said that after his death she has heard praise for her son from professors, classmates and the university president. Isaiah Kirby was accepted to 18 colleges or universities on an academic basis, she said.

He played intramural sports but was focused on academics as he strived toward a career working with sharks and snakes, his passion, and was days away from a job interview with the Austin Zoo.

She said her son’s body had so many bullet holes that he had to be cremated.

Mielock was on the phone with his college-aged son at the time of the stabbing, said Shelley Davis Boyd, who shares children with Mielock. She spoke during an East Lansing City Council meeting on May 12.

“Despite everything, when medically cleared to leave the hospital,” she said, “their father refused a wheelchair because he wanted our children to know he was not defeated.”

 

What the videos show

The police release included 911 calls for a theft of a pizza at Marco’s; an employee said that a man took a pizza from behind the counter.

More 911 calls soon afterward led 911 operators to tell police that the theft they were headed toward had turned into a stabbing across the street, with a man seriously injured.

Police went to a shopping plaza parking lot at Lake Lansing and Abbot roads, where 911 callers said a man was pacing around after having stabbed someone.

Cell phone video from a bystander shows a man pacing the lot, and the police narrative video zooms in on the apparent knife in the man’s hand.

The 911 callers included someone who said they had just cut Mielock’s hair.

The videos themselves start with police in cruisers, getting the upgraded information about the stabbing report.

The East Lansing Police Department pointed out in its narrative video that an officer can be seen loading a less-lethal 40mm weapon with a foam round while en route.

That officer’s vehicle arrives and within seconds, officers and Kirby are near to each other as Kirby is struck by the first of three distinct barrages of gunfire.

The less lethal weapon was dropped and the officer pulled a handgun.

After several seconds, the second round of shots was fired.

Kirby can be seen after the first and second rounds making a motion that appears to be moving the knife toward himself and later moving his upper body as if trying to stand or crawl forward.

Police yell at Kirby to “drop the knife” throughout the encounter and eventually use a protective shield to press against Kirby’s arm as they remove the knife from his hand.

The narrated footage released by police shows them rendering aid to Kirby and to Mielock.

Officers do not appear to use less-lethal weapons, including the 40mm weapon and Tasers that at least some officers drew after the initial barrage.

Four officers have been placed on administrative duties.

The East Lansing Police Department identified on May 15 the four officers as Field Training Officer Beck Martin (three years with East Lansing Police Department), Officer Brennan Surman (two years with ELPD), Officer Benjamin Saylor (two years with ELPD) and Officer Zane Johnson Chasteen (three months, paired with Martin).

Teresa Caine Bingman, an attorney for Kirby’s family, said in a statement May 15 that the videos show her son “was met with an immediate and overwhelming use of deadly force.”

She said officers did not use less lethal options and fired more than 20 rounds. Caine Bingman said Kirby appeared to be dead after the initial gunshot wounds and officers continued to fire, which she said was not “reasonable nor legally justified.”