LPD officer charged in collision with man in wheelchair resigns

LANSING -  The Lansing police sergeant charged with a misdemeanor in connection with a traffic incident in early August involving a man in a wheelchair has resigned from the department.

Charles Funk, an 18-year member of the department, resigned Sept. 12 before an internal affairs investigation was completed by the Lansing Police Department, Chief Mike Yankowski said Tuesday.

The internal investigation ended once Funk resigned. He had been on administrative leave since Aug. 18, police said.

Funk was charged Aug. 29 with failing to yield to a handicapped pedestrian in a crosswalk for an incident Aug. 8 at Pennsylvania Avenue and Jolly Road, according to a news release from prosecutors announcing charges. He was on duty when the incident happened.

A trial date has been set for Nov. 15, according to court records. Nick Bostic, Funk’s attorney, filed a motion to dismiss the charge.

"This is an internal squabble between LPD and Mr. Funk," Bostic told the State Journal on Tuesday. "And they're using the system to gain an advantage. So we’re going to trial."

Bostic wouldn't elaborate on Funk’s squabble with the department other than to describe it as an "equal employment matter."

Lansing sergeant charged in case involving pedestrian

In the motion, Bostic wrote that Funk "had declined to allow some invalid warrantless arrests to be detained in the City's detention facility," which led to him "being passed over for promotion and then a series of petty and false allegations generated by co-workers or supervisors."

Bostic alleges in the motion that a Lansing internal affairs lieutenant asked the "state police to investigate the accident but specifically requested that they investigate with an eye toward prosecution" of the misdemeanor charge Funk is facing.

Robert Merritt, public information director for the Lansing Police Department, declined to comment on Bostic's allegations beyond saying that the traffic incident was reported to police shortly after it occurred and an internal affairs investigation began, but the matter was refereed to Michigan State Police once it appeared criminal charges were possible.

Bostic told the State Journal on Tuesday that the person in the wheelchair actually struck Funk's patrol vehicle, not the other way around.

"Somebody had allowed a bush to grow in the right of way and drivers going northbound on (Pennsylvania Avenue) couldn't see anybody in a wheelchair at the corner because of that bush," he said.

The bush has since been trimmed.

Bostic also said the language of the statute says a driver must take "necessary precautions" when someone on a wheelchair is near a crosswalk, but doesn’t specify what those precautions are.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini. Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.