SULLIVAN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A suicidal man who repeatedly begged police to shoot him injured two Muskegon County Sheriff's Department deputies Sunday morning. The suicidal man also was injured. All three were transported to Muskegon hospitals.
At 10:46 a.m. Sunday, sheriff's deputies, Fruitport Township Police Department officers, and Michigan State Police troopers all responded to a report of a suicidal man at 4040 Tean-Mar Avenue in Sullivan Township. The caller said that the man was armed with a firearm.
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies were able to remove the suicidal man's wife and children from the house. Upon receiving no response from the man, deputies looked in windows and observed the man either passed out or collapsed on a bed in a bedroom. They were concerned for the man's well-being and decided to enter the house.
They made entry and called to the man while making their way to the bedroom. Before deputies could get there the man came out of the bedroom armed with a rifle, which was pointed at the floor. One of the deputies was right there when the man came out and the deputy shoved the man into the door frame. While doing so, the deputy twisted his own leg and broke it.
Other deputies then subdued the man and took the rifle away from him. He was brought under control with a Taser.
Sheriff Dean Roesler told FOX 17 the entire time the man was fighting and screaming for deputies to shoot him.
While subduing the man, another deputy took a punch to the shoulder and suffered a shoulder injury, Roesler said. The man sustained a minor cut to the head from the door frame and was taken to Mercy Hospital in Muskegon, where deputies stood by as he was physically and mentally evaluated.
"His intent was clearly to have police shoot him," Roesler told FOX 17. "The outcome could have been a lot worse."
The man had consumed some alcohol prior to the incident, Roesler said.
Both deputies were taken to Hackley Hospital in Muskegon. "Unfortunately. that's one of the down sides of the job," Roesler said of two deputies who were injured during the incident.
Michigan State Police continues to investigate the incident.
