GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Prosecutors have determined the fatal shooting of a man by a Kent County deputy last November was justified.
The shooting happened in November at a home in Gaines Township. Deputies say 34-year-old Steven Saucier pushed a deputy to the ground while holding a gun, leading to him being shot and killed.
Surveillance footage from inside the home provided by Saucier’s wife Megan shows a confrontation between Steven Saucier and one of his wife’s friends.
Eventually, his wife and her friend leave their home to go to the hospital. When they returned hours later, the friend’s parents were with her, which caused a new string of fights that allegedly resulted in Steven Saucier assaulting the woman’s parents.
Everyone involved made calls to 911 afterwards. The final came from Steven Saucier where he can be heard telling people to get out of his house and threatening to “blow them out of it.”
When deputies arrived at the home, one of them knocked on the window. Megan Saucier can be heard at that point telling her husband that police had arrived and to put his gun down.
Instead, he answered the door, pushed one of the deputies to the ground while holding a ground. When Steven Saucier didn’t comply with the other deputy’s commands, he was shot in the left side, killing him.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said it was a senseless situation.
“In terms of senseless this is probably one of the more senseless ones because of all these people have in the most part no criminal history and at best is a shoving match there was no baseball bat involved and you know somebody ends up dead because you know how it kind of builds up,” Becker said.
A review of the gun Steven Saucier was holding determined it was loaded and cocked at the time of his shooting.
