Daily Briefs

Officer not charged for wounding teenage girl during domestic call


MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — No charges will be filed against a western Michigan police officer who shot and wounded a knife-wielding 15-year-old girl as she tried to attack a 16-year-old boy.

MLive.com reports that Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson made the announcement last week and said evidence showed the officer was justified in shooting the teenager to prevent her from assaulting the teen boy.

Hilson played the 911 calls at a press conference last week.

Dispatch calls indicate Officer Doug Conrad was called to the apartment complex on Aug. 12 by the teen boy, who was hiding in a bathroom. He told the dispatcher the teen girl had cut him with a knife.

Video from the police cruiser shows Officer Doug Conrad walking up to the apartment when the boy emerges fleeing from the pursuing girl, Hilson said. The officer repeatedly warned the girl before he fired four times. She was struck in the leg. The officer then went to the injured teen and rendered aid, the video shows.

The girl was treated at a hospital for her injuries and released a few hours later.

“It is truly fortunate that this young lady was shot in the leg,” Hilson said.

She has been charged in Muskegon County juvenile court with assault with a dangerous weapon.

Ten days before the shooting, a Muskegon Heights Police officer had responded to a disturbance and found the girl trying to punch the same boyfriend and then strike him with an open hand, according to the dispositional report.

Muskegon Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis says the officer will remain on administrative leave until the city completes an internal review of the incident.

 

2 charged in 2009 slaying of Michigan man restrained in bed
 

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — Authorities have charged two people in the 2009 stabbing death of a Jackson-area man who was killed after being restrained in his bed.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka announced open murder charges against 30-year-old Michael Beatty and 24-year-old Tiffany Reichard in the death of 56-year-old Matthew Cramton, who was killed in Summit Township. Court records didn't list lawyers for them.

Reichard was arraigned Thursday and ordered held without bond. Beatty is imprisoned in Ionia on unrelated charges and awaits arraignment.

Jarzynka says investigators believe Beatty restrained Cramton and stabbed him in January 2009 during a home invasion while Reichard helped.

A friend found Cramton's body two days later. The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports Cramton was known for selling goofy hats and painted balloons at the annual Jackson County Fair.

 

Holiday Hours
 

The Third Circuit Court Civil, Criminal and Family Divisions will be closed on Monday, Sept. 5 in observance of Labor Day.
The 36th District Court will be closed on Monday, Sept. 5 in observance of Labor Day.
 

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