Macomb County Sheriff: Fatal inmate shooting was justified

Charles E. Ramirez / The Detroit News

Mount Clemens -- Police on Friday defended the use of lethal force against a Macomb County Jail inmate killed at a hospital Thursday after the man's family raised questions about the incident.

A Macomb County Sheriff's deputy shot the inmate, Jamin William Totty, 32, of Chesterfield Township, about 6:15 p.m. Thursday after he tried to escape from the emergency room of the Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center, officials said.

During the escape attempt, Totty grabbed a three-inch long intravenous drip needle and used it to threaten the deputy, said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel. Hackel said he's reviewed video surveillance tapes from the hospital that captured the event as it unfolded.

"From what we've seen, the individual intended to harm this officer," Hackel said. "It was clear the officer was backed up against a wall when he fired his weapon. He tried numerous times to tell the prisoner to put his weapon down, but he refused and lunged at him."

The officer then fired a single shot into the suspect, who died a short time later, he said.

Totty's family questioned the use of lethal force and said he had a drug problem but was not known to be violent.

"I'm not trying to make excuses for the wrong that he has done," said Candace Spiekhout, Totty's sister. "He has drug problems, and he hasn't been himself for the last year or so."

Spiekhout said the officer should have only wounded her brother or used a Taser to subdue him. "He's never held a gun in his life," said Spiekhout, 26, of Oxford. "He'd never hurt a fly."

Hackel said the officer's actions were justified and that he didn't have a Taser with him at the time of the incident.

Totty has an 11-year-old daughter who lives with her grandparents in Tennessee, Spiekhout said. The girl's mother is currently serving a prison sentence.

Totty was in jail for violating parole on retail fraud and drug possession charges, according to court records. He had been arrested by Sterling Heights police a couple of days before his death, his sister said.

Totty was arraigned in Macomb County Circuit Court on the parole violation charge Thursday morning, court records said.

Hackel said the officer has been placed on administrative leave while an internal investigation is conducted.

Spiekhout says the family is in the process of making funeral arrangements for Totty.

"We don't know what to do," she said. "We don't have a penny to bury him. We didn't think we'd have to do this."

cramirez@detnews.com (586) 468-2905