Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WORTHY
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
Press Release
December 21, 2016
Eight Pages
For Immediate Release
COUNTY OF WAYNE
OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
Facts
On December 23, 2015 at 12:50 a.m., two Dearborn police officers were dispatched to a gas
station at Tireman and Greenfield for customer disturbance.
Kevin Matthews was harassing a female store clerk for an extended period of time to let him
have a Redbull for free because he did not have enough money. Later, he concealed a
Redbull in his pocket and she confronted him about it. She repeatedly asked him to put it
back and leave. Mr. Matthews became loud, agitated and hostile, and tried to start a
physical fight with an older male customer who attempted to intervene. The clerk then
locked Mr. Matthews in the store and called the police.
Upon arrival, Dearborn police officers asked Mr. Matthews to step outside the gas station.
Instead he fled from the scene on foot. Despite their efforts, they were unable to locate him
again that night.
On December 23, 2015 at 12:24 p.m., while conducting an unrelated traffic stop in full
uniform, in a marked scout car, a Dearborn police officer observed Mr. Matthews walking
north on Greenfield near Tireman. The officer was aware of the incident on the prior shift,
as well as an outstanding misdemeanor probation violation warrant for Mr. Matthews. The
officer completed his traffic stop, drove to Whitcomb, and advised dispatch that he would be
attempting to make contact with a suspect at Tireman and Whitcomb.
-more-
The scout car audio and video of the preceding traffic stop were reviewed. The male
motorist from the traffic stop was also interviewed. When Mr. Matthews walked past the
area of the traffic stop, the officer pointed him out to the motorist during the traffic stop and
said that he had to go arrest Mr. Matthews because he ran from officers the night before.
The officer also told the motorist that Matthews had never run from him before.
The officer drove onto Whitcomb to a point just north of Tireman, crossing into Detroit. He
parked and exited his vehicle, and told Mr. Matthews to stop where he was. The officer was
61 tall and weighed 220 pounds. Mr. Matthews was 35 years old, 55 tall and weighed
approximately 155 pounds.
Mr. Matthews ran and the officer pursued him on foot, yelling, Stop - Police. The officer
chased Mr. Matthews northbound on the west side of the street and then across Whitcomb
to the east side of the street, where they ran up a driveway at 8800 block of Whitcomb. The
officer and Mr. Matthews then climbed over a chain link fence into the backyard in the 8800
block of Whitcomb where the shooting took place.
Interviews with five civilian witnesses, the physical evidence and statements from other
police officers that arrived at the scene after the shooting show that Mr. Matthews and the
Dearborn police officer engaged in an intense struggle that started in the grass near the
fence line. The struggle continued around the grass area, along the rear of the house, onto
the paved driveway and up against a wood gate and garage door. The struggle ended in
the driveway when Mr. Matthews, while standing over the officer, pulled the ammunition
magazine from the officers duty belt, which was positioned next to his firearm. The officer,
still on his back, fired nine shots from his weapon which struck and killed Mr. Matthews.
Scout Car Video
From the location where the officer parked his scout car, and prior to beginning the foot
chase, it would have been impossible to capture video of the struggle in the backyard of
8800 block of Whitcomb. As a result, there is no scout car video or audio of the officers
December 23, 2015 struggle with Mr. Matthews in the driveway in the 8800 block of
Whitcomb.
There is only an approximately ten second long video, where the officer entered the picture
from the area of the front drivers side of the police car, chasing Mr. Matthews. Both go to
the left, behind a tree or shrub, momentarily before reentering the picture on the right of the
screen, with the officer still chasing behind Mr. Matthews. Both then exit the screen to the
right.
It should be noted that the viewing of the in-car video took four months due to a technical
difficulty with the system in reviewing all of the video. This required it to be analyzed by
experts from the Dearborn Police Department, Detroit Police Department, Secret Service
and the West Bloomfield Michigan Police Department
-more-
-more-
of threatening to burn her house down, being responsible for a fire at her home after the
threat, and shooting her house up approximately two-three weeks after the fire. There is no
indication of any warrant requests arising out of these incidents.
Redford Postal Carrier Incident
June 2013 - A female postal carrier was on her mail route when Mr. Matthews began to
follow her and made continued aggressive sexual comments to her. Fearing for her safety,
she contacted police. When police arrived, she observed Mr. Matthews bang his head on
the police car window.
When police arrived on the scene, Mr. Matthews was extremely intoxicated, refused to
comply with their commands to take his hands out of his pockets, pulled away as he was
patted down for weapons and then began kicking the police car, demanding to be let out.
Mr. Matthews pled guilty to ordinance violations of Drunk and Disorderly, Assaulting or
Obstructing a Police Officer and Possession of Marijuana arising out of this incident. The
outstanding warrant at the time of the shooting was for violation of his probation on this
case.
Conclusion
It is clear that there was a chase and then a brief but intense struggle between Matthews
and the officer. Items were torn from his uniform, duty belt, and person, and strewn
throughout the backyard and driveway. The bodies of the two men slammed into the house
and garage door, and caused damage to the siding of the home, and overturned and broke
items in the driveway area. At various times during this struggle, Mr. Matthews broke free
from the officers control, gained possession of his self-defense spray, ammunition
magazines, and most importantly, struggled for control of his weapon as he lay on his back
in the driveway. For these reasons, the officer certainly had a legitimate fear that Mr.
Matthews would gain control of his weapon, and use it to harm him and make good his
escape.
The facts and evidence in this case support the justification of the shooting under the law of
self defense in Michigan. Particularly important is the lack of proof to overcome self
defense. The argument that the officer was honestly and reasonably in fear of death or
great bodily harm, is directly supported by the law and evidence in the case.
There is insufficient evidence to criminally charge the Dearborn officer because the facts
and the applicable laws do not support charges that can be proven beyond a reasonable
doubt.
-more-
January 4, 2016
-more-
results, police
interviews, etc
reports,
medical
records,
witness
May 2 - 6, 2016
Medical records
EMS records
Video surveillance
Witness interviews
Police reports
Forensic map from audio/visual test
Scene sketch
Photos/ grid search results from return to
scene to search for additional evidence
Firearms analysis results
October 6, 2016