Prisoner Killed In ER Shooting
Family Says They Plan On Launching Investigation
POSTED: Thursday, November 5, 2009
UPDATED: 4:54 pm EST January 7,2010
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. -- A man facing criminal charges was shot to death by police Thursday at Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center ER, police said.
Authorities said Roseville police picked up Jamin William Totty, 32, of Chesterfield, and arraigned him on retail fraud and drug charges.
When he was about to be taken to jail, he complained of chest pains.
"He knew he was going to jail for a couple of years and he panicked," said Totty's sister Candice Spikehout.
While in the ER, police said Totty attempted to hide from police and grabbed a needle and threatened a Macomb County sheriff’s deputy.
The deputy fatally shot Totty in the heart.
"A nurse came running out of the emergency room saying there was a shooting," said Cathy Metelsky, who was in the ER with her son. "They told me to go in the room and shut the door and then I went out there wondering what was going on."
No one else was injured.
Spikehout admits that her brother has had several run ins with the law and that he had a drug and mental problem, but she said he would not have harmed anyone.
"There was absolutely no need for my brother to be shot in the heart," said Spikehout.
Not yet released surveillance video captured it all.
"You can clearly see the officer giving him orders, telling him to back down and then the officer back pedaling as the suspect is coming toward him with that object in his hand," said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel.
Spikehout and her mother Denise Casteel have asked to see the video, but they said police have refused to turn it over.
Totty's family said they plan on hiring a lawyer and launching an independent investigation into the shooting.
The deputy is on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
Authorities are trying to figure out how the prisoner managed to break free. “After seeing the video, there’s no question in my mind that there could have been harm that happened to that officer and or other individuals in the emergency,” said Hackel.
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