KALAMAZOO, MI – Five attorneys were to argue Friday in Kalamazoo County District Court for the dismissal of cases against 20 college students charged with misdemeanor alcohol possession and violating the city of Kalamazoo's noise ordinance.

But earlier in the week, City Attorney Clyde Robinson dismissed all of the cases, citing concerns over the validity of a search warrant executed by Kalamazoo Public Safety officers.

“There was apparently some type of miscommunication ... as to what the court believed was happening when the warrant was issued,” Robinson said of the Feb. 2 incident.

Attorneys for the 20 defendants, in briefs supporting their requests that District Judge Richard A. Santoni dismiss the cases, argued that it was much more than miscommunication. They contended that KDPS officers intentionally misled District Judge Vincent C. Westra in requesting a search warrant based on loud yelling and noise believed to be coming from a house two blocks west of Western Michigan University's main campus.

Attorneys Thomas W. Elkins, Alan B. Koenig, William A. McNeil, Julianne Meyer-Sorek and Thomas M. Ripley contended that noise coming from the house in the 1200 block Euclid Avenue had stopped long before officers executed the search warrant, and that police entered the house with their guns drawn and used excessive force as they pulled sleeping students from their beds at gunpoint.

The attorneys said in court documents that the eight officers coerced students into telling them whether they had consumed alcohol, then failed to inform them of their Miranda rights before having them submit to a preliminary breath test.

“Defense counsel has reviewed in detail audio files made available from the incident in question,” Ripley said in the briefs filed on behalf of two defendants charged with underage possession of alcohol and noise violations. “Defense counsel is certain that this court will find the conduct of the officers on said night to be egregious and appalling.”

Westra declined to comment, other than to say he will be reviewing the situation “to determine whether there should be some form of action taken ... by the court or otherwise.”

“I’m aware of the allegations in this matter,” the judge who signed the search warrant said. “I’m reviewing the documents that have been filed and the tapes to get a better handle on what transpired.”

Meanwhile, Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley said Friday that he authorized an internal investigation by his agency's Office of Professional Standards. He said his agency, as of Friday, had not received any citizen complaints about the Feb. 2 incident.

"We're going to do the right thing," Hadley said. "We're going to look into this.

We'll do a thorough review based on the information that's been presented."



According to court filings by the attorneys, the incident began at about 1:30 a.m. after officers responded to a report of a man who had fallen and needed help on Euclid Street.

At the scene, the officers reported hearing “loud yelling and shouting” nearby coming from the front and back porches of a house in the 1200 block of Euclid. Officers approached the residence, at which time people who had been on the porches entered the house “and the alleged excessive noise was abated,” according to briefs filed by Ripley.

The attorney wrote that, after the people on the porch entered the house, KDPS officers were unable to make contact with anyone inside. His clients, Ripley says, were not on the porch when police arrived and, in fact, were asleep inside and unaware of what was occurring.

Ripley said that even though the noise from the house stopped once officers approached, the officers drafted an affidavit for a search warrant and presented it to Westra in which they falsely told the judge “that the alleged noise disturbance continued.”

Meyer-Sorek, who represented five defendants charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol, wrote in a court brief that “some occupants were found in beds and had been sleeping; at least one occupant was physically restrained face down on the bed while being handcuffed."

“Some occupants were called out from bedrooms, at gunpoint,” Meyer-Sorek's brief said. “At least one occupant, whose empty hands were raised at or above his head as he exited a room, was thrown against the wall. Others were forced or physically moved to the ground. One person was dragged out from under a bed.”

McNeil wrote in his brief that the conduct of the officers was similar to an Oct. 19 incident in which officers got a search warrant and entered a home with their guns drawn in response to a disturbance. The case, according to McNeil’s brief, was dismissed because District Judge Anne E. Blatchford found the search warrant affidavit “to be misleading and invalid.”

Hadley said Friday that the KDPS internal investigation will include both the Feb. 2 and Oct. 19 incidents.

In the Feb. 2 case, Westra signed the warrant but gave officers a narrow scope permitting them only to identify the occupants of the Euclid Street house through their Michigan driver’s licenses or IDs.

Despite the judge's instructions, the attorneys say in their briefs. Once inside the house, officers used excessive force and illegally expanded the scope of the warrant by investigating each occupant for underage drinking and detaining them while they gave each a preliminary breath test. The search warrant affidavit makes no mention of alcohol or alcohol consumption.

“The warrant request was explicitly limited by the authorizing judge,” Meyer-Sorek wrote in her brief. “... The judge did not authorize a warrant to seize and search persons for underage alcohol consumption or for any criminal offense related to alcohol. A plain reading of the warrant shows that it did not authorize the police to conduct preliminary breath tests, or to conduct some investigation other than the noise violation.”

Asked about the allegations of illegal activity and misconduct by the officers, the city's Robinson said, “That’s their perception.”

“Was there an intentional misleading on the part of the officers? I don’t think so ... I don’t believe that there was any intent on the part of the officers to intentionally deceive the issuing judge," the city attorney said.

“Could their actions have been different and could they have dealt with the situation differently? Probably," Robinson continued. "Is this a teachable moment? Perhaps, but I leave that to (KDPS) as to how to handle these situations in the future, either better or differently.”

Hadley said his agency is more than willing "to work with the judges that have participation in this case if they see things we can improve upon and/or cause them to pause."

Hadley said the allegations surrounding both the October and February incidents concern him, but that he will wait to see the results of the internal investigation before drawing any conclusions.

"I don't think we should rush to judgement against the officers until we have the opportunity to look at everything and the totality of circumstances to come to a reasonable conclusion," the chief said. "... We will review everything."

Contact Rex Hall Jr. at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.