Lansing officer may have used excessive force in 2011 killing

LANSING – A Lansing police officer who in 2011 shot and killed a 17-year-old girl who had broken into a bank may have used excessive force by shooting her in the head, a federal judge has said.

That finding was part of a written opinion by U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell in a lawsuit filed by the mother of Derrinesha Clay. The lawsuit seeks in excess of $10 million. Bell said the case against Officer Brian Rendon can proceed.

The evidence, Bell said, could "allow a reasonable jury to conclude that ... Rendon's shot to Ms. Clay's head was unreasonable because she was on her knees, she had already been shot in the stomach, and she was no longer resisting."

A trial had been set for March 9. But the case is now stayed as attorneys for Rendon appeal Bell's decision. A notice of appeal was filed Feb. 19, records show.

The City of Lansing also had been named in the lawsuit, but in the same opinion Bell dismissed all counts against the city.

Bell, who was appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan, noted that testimony from Rendon and two other officers at the scene "conflicts" regarding whether Clay resisted after the first shot to her stomach.

The incident happened the early morning of March 14, 2011 at a south Lansing Bank of America branch. Rendon was one of three officers who searched the bank. Clay, who had entered through a broken window, was found hiding in a storage closet, holding a pair of scissors. Two of the officers said she then pulled a knife from her coat. During a struggle, Rendon shot her twice while she was on her knees, according to the officers' statements.

Rendon was cleared by internal investigations, and Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III ruled the shooting justified.

The March 2011 incident sparked widespread community outrage. A group of local black pastors and NAACP officials questioned whether the teen ever attacked Rendon with a knife. Yard signs questioning the officers' actions went up in one neighborhood. At a packed meeting at Union Missionary Baptist Church, community members shouted at police officials.

Retired Cooley Law School professor Ron Bretz said that Bell may be pushing Rendon's attorneys to settle.

"What judges often will do is write fairly strongly worded opinions, hoping to prod a settlement," said Bretz, who reviewed Bell's opinion.

"This incident was an unfortunate tragedy for everyone involved," Police Chief Mike Yankowski said in a statement. "Nonetheless, we strenuously disagree with Judge Bell's ruling and stand by the findings of the external MSP investigation and Prosecuting Attorney Stuart Dunnings, both of which concluded that the officer's actions were justified given the circumstances he faced."

Read more on this report in Sunday's Lansing State Journal.