Nationwide — A deputy from Springfield, Michigan has been fired after he wrongfully arrested La’Ron Marshall, a Black man who was harmlessly collecting signatures to form a tenant association in his neighborhood.
The now-terminated deputy, whose identity wasn’t released, reportedly received a call about a suspicious person doing solicitations door-to-door. He and a colleague went to the house where Marshall is trying to get the last signature.
Marshall, who was living in the Wyndtree Townhomes complex in Springfield for four months, tried to explain that he wasn’t soliciting and he was only collecting signatures to form the tenant organization, but the deputy and his colleague arrested him for failing to provide an identification card.
Kimberly Totzke, who lives at the house where the incident happened, took a video of the confrontation aside from the recording from the Ring camera at her house.
“Based on what is going on in the world right now, he was a Black man on my porch, and the police were here. I was like, ‘OK, it’s time to roll,'” Totzke told Fox 17.
Marshall’s sons, who are ages 8 and 13, also saw the incident. Jabrien Deal said, “It was just hard to see because I just didn’t want my little brother to see, and I didn’t want me to see. I was crying because my dad was getting manhandled by two police officers.”
Marshall was arrested and charged with obstructing police. He was sent back home after spending a night in jail.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Steven Hinkley and undersheriff Timothy Hurtt expressed their apology to Marshall in a statement.
“We hold ourselves to high standards of professionalism to the communities we protect. When we are right, we are right. When we are wrong, we admit we are wrong. On Jan. 2, we were wrong,” Hinkley and Hurtt released in a statement. “The conduct and actions of this case, in which Mr. Marshall was collecting signatures, does not represent our commitment to our community. The actions that Mr. Marshall took that day of circulating a petition are protected by our Constitution.”