Washtenaw County Sheriff Orders Internal Affairs Probe Into Ypsilanti Township Arrest Video

Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia M. Dyer has ordered an internal affairs investigation into the Aug. 28 arrest of a man near the Village Grove apartments in Ypsilanti Township, after body-worn camera video of the encounter began circulating on social media and drew complaints from residents.

Dyer said she reviewed the available footage herself before directing internal affairs investigators to examine the force deputies used, what they said at the scene and how they handled the arrest overall. The review will determine whether deputies acted within Sheriff's Office policy, training standards and professional conduct rules.

"Those determinations require consideration of the circumstances known to deputies at the time and the totality of the evidence," Dyer said. She added that Sheriff's Office employees are expected to treat people with dignity, communicate professionally, use de-escalation when it's reasonably possible, and follow the department's use-of-force policies.

The arrest grew out of a call that came in around 7:30 p.m. that Friday, when deputies responded to a reported felonious domestic assault involving a suspect believed to be armed and barricaded near the Village Grove apartments. Children were reportedly inside the home at the time, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies set up a perimeter around the area. About two hours later, around 9:40 p.m., a vehicle drove into that secured perimeter and did not stop when deputies signaled for the driver to pull over. Deputies believed the driver could be connected to the domestic assault call, the Sheriff's Office said. They deployed a tire-deflation device and approached the vehicle after the driver got out.

Body-worn camera footage released by the department shows a deputy ordering the man to get on the ground as part of what deputies were treating as a high-risk stop, given the unresolved armed and barricaded situation nearby. The footage shows physical contact between a deputy and the man, who then falls forward and is handcuffed.

A separate video that spread online appears to show the man's head making contact with a curb during the arrest. Dyer said the department's body-worn camera footage, reviewed in full, does not clearly establish that contact occurred. She said all available footage, along with other evidence, will be part of the internal affairs review.

"Portions of the footage, including the physical interaction and language heard during the encounter, understandably raise questions that warrant careful review," Dyer said. "At the same time, a video segment does not, standing alone, resolve questions surrounding a deputy's use of force."

The Sheriff's Office said the man did not sustain serious physical injuries. He was treated for a minor scrape to his knee before being taken to the county jail, where he later received an additional medical evaluation.

The man's mother told Local 4 she learned about the arrest after waking up to the video already spreading on social media. "It was heartwrenching," she said. "I instantly jumped up, and I was scared to death, ya know, because I heard his head hit that curb and I am like, 'he's gotta be hurt.'" She said that if her son did something wrong, she respects the legal process, but wanted the deputies' actions examined.

Crime and safety analyst Darnell Blackburn said assessing an encounter like this requires more information than a short clip can provide. "The sheriff's office has much more context than we do, and even maybe more than what they've released to the public," Blackburn said. "The situation and the context has to be reviewed, the entire situation has to be looked at, and they have to make a decision based on that." He also pointed to the pressure deputies face responding to an active, unresolved threat. "When an officer rushes in, you're excited, because you don't know what this person has," Blackburn said. "They obviously have not had an opportunity to pat the person down. But when they are being compliant like that, you have to be mindful of your aggression level when you're approaching a suspect."

Civil rights attorney David A. Robinson, who handles police misconduct cases, said training gaps are often at the root of these incidents. "Police departments have a tendency to ignore human propensity in their training and in their supervision, and that is what gives rise to these very situations," Robinson said.

The internal affairs investigation is ongoing. Dyer has not set a public timeline for when it will conclude or said whether findings will be released once the review is complete. The Sheriff's Office has not identified the deputies involved or said whether any have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome.