A Michigan State Police trooper has been charged with murder and faces a possible life sentence after he was accused of running down a suspect in an unmarked squad car and inflicting fatal injuries during a police chase.
Michigan's attorney general, Dana Nessel, announced Tuesday that she was bringing charges against Detective Sgt. Brian Keely, 50, in connection with the death of Samuel Sterling, 25, who was Black.
Keely is charged with one count of second-degree murder, which carries a potential life prison sentence, and one count of involuntary manslaughter, a felony carrying a 15-year sentence. Sterling's family welcomed the news — his mother, Andrica Cage, told NBC affiliate WOOD of Grand Rapids she cried with happiness.
Keely and the state police Sixth District Fugitive Task Force were trying to arrest Sterling, a probation absconder who was wanted on several felony warrants, on April 17, Nessel said. He was spotted at a gas station in Kentwood, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and he ran away after police approached him, Nessel said in a statement.
"A number of MSP troopers and other local law enforcement agents proceeded to chase Sterling, both in their vehicles and by foot, when the unmarked vehicle D/Sgt Keely was driving turned and struck Sterling in a nearby fast-food restaurant parking lot," the attorney general's office said in the statement.
Sterling was taken to University of Michigan Metro Health Hospital but died from his injuries later that day.
Body-worn camera video released by state police shows him on the ground and badly injured, crying out in pain.
“Det. Sgt. Keely’s actions that day were legally, grossly negligent and created a very high risk of death or great bodily harm, which could have otherwise been prevented,” Nessel said in a video announcing the charges.
Ven Johnson, the Sterling family attorney, told WOOD that Keely "clearly used a police car as a deadly weapon, knowing full well that Samuel was right there and that by steering into him, by going up and over a curb to try to cut him off, he knew that he could hit him."
"Some would say that he intentionally hit him, which is what it looked like to me on the video," Johnson added.
Marc Curtis, an attorney for Keely, told WOOD that Keely was a religious man who was "broken-hearted" for Sterling's family and that the charges were the result of political pressure.
"It is unfortunate that in this time of political correctness, Michigan's attorney general has chosen to ignore the facts of this incident and rely on political pressure," he said in a written statement.
"It is also unfortunate that our governor, without having seen or heard all the evidence in the case, chose to interject her opinion and side against law enforcement in this matter," he continued.
Curtis added that while it is tragic, the "accident could have also been avoided if Mr. Sterling would have simply complied with the commands of the detectives." Curtis previously said his client had "no intention" of harming Sterling.
State police voluntarily referred the case to Nessel on May 10. Keely has been suspended since the incident.
"Public integrity is a top priority for my Department and we remain committed to providing a thorough and just review and resolution in each case brought before us," Nessel said.
Keely's arraignment date has not yet been set.
