According to the GRPD, the Michigan State Police Department is investigating what happened last Thursday around 10:30 PM after an officer’s firearm discharged as cops approached a house.
Grand Rapids Police say, officers had been looking for a stolen vehicle used in a slew of recent robberies in the area, and believed at the time, they had found it parked outside of a house near Cass St. and Sycamore St. on Grand Rapids southeast side.
As cops approached the residence, that’s when an officer’s gun went off, striking a building and sending 30-year-old Daviaonne Smith, the driver of the vehicle, (and in the residence at the time) into a panic.
On Tuesday, Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne addressed the media.
“This was a traumatic experience, and I recognize that,” Payne said. “Fortunately, no one was injured.”
Meanwhile, police said Tuesday the car ended up not being the stolen vehicle they were looking for, and Smith had been cleared as a suspect in the robberies.
Chief Payne said Tuesday it had been over 20 years since a police officer at the GRPD since and officer had accidently fired their weapon.
He said the department would launch its own internal investigation once Michigan State Police had concluded theirs.
