Couple sues police saying they were terrorized

By Curt Smith | Lansing State Journal

LANSING – A lawsuit alleges that police illegally raided an Okemos apartment the night an Ingham County sheriff's deputy was killed while pursuing a white SUV because a similar vehicle was parked outside, having been used earlier by one of the couples as they drove around an apartment complex trying to lull their baby to sleep.

The raid of the apartment, where two couples and their two infant children were staying, led to the arrest of the two men and threats to their wives that they would lose parental rights to their children, who would be placed with Child Protective Services, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court.

Police eventually released both men after realizing they had the wrong white SUV.

The couples filed the lawsuit Oct. 28 against five Michigan State Police officers, Meridian Township and one of its police officers.

Deputy Grant Whitaker was killed in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 2014, while chasing a speeding white SUV on rural roads near Stockbridge. He lost control of his patrol vehicle and crashed into a tree.

On July 22, John Kelsey of Stockbridge, now 35, was sentenced to 20 to 45 years for first-degree fleeing police and operating a vehicle without a license causing death.

The SUV was never found.

Meridian Township Manager Frank Walsh said Tuesday he understands how the tragic events of that night could put a strain on the officers.

"I'm not about to second guess what happened," Walsh said. "I'll leave that for the courts to decide."

A Michigan State Police spokesperson did not return calls seeking comment.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by Bujar Dervishaj and his wife, Edona, and Flamur Sejdiu and his wife, Ilijana. The suit, in addition to Meridian Township, names Meridian Officer Bryan Leroy and five members of the Michigan State Police: Detective Sgt. Kyle McPhee, Troopers Brian Alexander, Troy Johnston and Christopher McIntosh, and a Trooper Chaffee, whose first name is not listed in the complaint.

Thomas Loeb, the Farmington Hills attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the couples, said Tuesday that he expects more defendants.

"I'm personally outraged that these officers would act the way they did," he said. "It's pretty clear that they were very angry that this deputy lost his life — I understand that — but to jump to the conclusion that just because this is a white car it must have been the same white car. Or because the engine was warm it must have been the same white car, is a terrible way of investigating."

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, plus other costs to be determined by a jury.

According to the lawsuit:

About an hour before Whitaker was killed, a Meridian Township police officer was answering a call regarding a suspicious vehicle being driven around the Cedar Creek Apartments in Okemos, where the Dervishajs were hosting the Sejdius and their 11-month-old daughter as overnight guests. Officer Erin Linn was not able to locate the vehicle.

Flamur Sejdiu and Edona Dervishaj are brother and sister. The Dervishajs have a son of their own, then 4 months old.

At one point, the Sejdius borrowed a white 2015 GMC Yukon belonging to Dervishaj’s brother and drove it around the apartment complex’s parking lot, hoping to lull their daughter to sleep, "a common practice for this family."

After hearing that police were looking for a white SUV involved in a pursuit in another part of the county, Linn notified Ingham County Central Dispatch about her suspicious vehicle complaint. Officers went to the apartment complex and found the SUV and noticed that the hood was warm.

All four adults were threatened at gunpoint and the couples and their babies were ordered into the hallway. The men were ordered to face the wall with their hands stretched out above them. The women were made to stand next to their husbands but could raise only one arm while the other cradled an infant.

The men were handcuffed and told to stay in the hallway. They were denied opportunities to change out of their night clothes or underwear. Bujar Dervisaj’s request for water was denied.

The lawsuit alleges neither a search warrant nor arrest warrants were sought.

“Instead, the officers stormed the apartment and terrorized the plaintiffs,” according to the lawsuit. “The officers could not contain their anger over Deputy Whitaker’s death, and they assumed his death was caused by the plaintiffs."

Linn was not named in the lawsuit.

Contact Curt Smith at 517-377-1226 or csmith@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @CurtSmithLSJ