Family of inmate shot by police questions deadly force

Charles E. Ramirez / The Detroit News

Mount Clemens -- The family of a Macomb County Jail inmate killed at a hospital by police Thursday is questioning the use of lethal force, saying the man had a drug problem but was not known to be violent.

"It's rough on my family," said Candace Spiekhout, sister of inmate Jamin William Totty. "He's never held a gun in his life. He'd never hurt a fly."

Police say a Macomb County Sheriff's deputy shot Totty about 6:15 p.m. Thursday in the emergency room of the Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center. Totty, 32, of Chesterfield Township, was trying to escape, grabbed a 3-inch retractable intravenous drip needle to use as a weapon and threatened the deputy, said Macomb County Sherriff Mark Hackel.

"My brother isn't a violent person," said Spiekhout, 26, of Oxford. "I'm not trying to make excuses for the wrong that he has done. He has drug problems, and he hasn't been himself for the last year or so."

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

Hackel said Friday his office has reviewed video surveillance tape from the hospital and it shows Totty wielded the IV needle like a weapon and could have seriously injured anyone who came in contact with him.

The deputy was guarding Totty at the hospital at the time of the shooting, officials said. Totty was in jail for violating parole on retail fraud and drug possession charges, court records show.

He had been arrested by Sterling Heights police a couple of days before his death, Spiekhout said.

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

Hackel said that on Thursday, Totty broke free of police and grabbed the needle. The deputy guarding the inmate drew his gun and warned him to drop his weapon, but he refused and continued advancing, Hackel said.

The officer then fired a single shot into Totty, who died a short time later, Hackel said.

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

Spiekhout said the family is 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