BATTLE CREEK, MI (WNWN/WTVB) – The family of a man shot to death during a police confrontation last September has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Battle Creek and Calhoun County as well as local police agencies.
The Battle Creek Enquirer says the $15.5 million suit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division and it alleges 22-year-old Andrew Blowers was killed in an unjustified use of deadly force by two officers from the Battle Creek Police Department and a deputy from the Calhoun County Sheriff Department.
Blowers was shot following a pursuit which ended on Logistics Drive in the Fort Custer Industrial Park just after midnight last September 5.
The shooting took place after Battle Creek Police tried to stop a reckless vehicle in the area of Dickman Road and M-66. Michigan State Police said a 90 mile per hour chase eventually ended in the Fort Custer Industrial Park. Officers approached the vehicle on foot but the vehicle was then driven toward the officers and that’s when all three officers fired shots.
A Battle Creek Police cruiser was struck before the suspect vehicle crashed into some nearby woods. Blowers was pronounced dead at the scene.
The State Police later said a preliminary report from an autopsy indicates Blowers died from multiple gunshot wounds and not from the injuries he suffered in a vehicle crash.
Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert determined last December that the officers were justified in their actions because they felt their lives were in danger and that no charges would be filed in the shooting.
Blower’s mother Charese Watson and her attorney claimed after Gilbert’s decision that her son was shot in the back 16 times by police. Watson also said her son was murdered by police.
