EASTPOINTE, Mich. (WXYZ) — Weeks before he would gun down a Detroit police officer, 19-year-old Ehmani Davis was seen berating his family and officers in broad daylight outside his Eastpointe home.
The May 30th incident, caught on police body camera and obtained by 7 Action News through a public records request, would ultimately lead to his arrest.
Davis later shot and killed Detroit police officer Loren Courts on July 6, according to police, and was then killed by officers who returned fire.
The May 30th incident took place just one day after Davis was seen on surveillance video walking into a gun shop with a friend who, prosecutors alleged, helped him purchase an assault-style weapon that he later used to kill Courts.
In the May police video, Davis is seen shirtless and irate, yelling at his mother and brother just after 6 p.m. A family member had called 9-1-1 seeking help from police.
Davis is visibility upset, pacing up and down his driveway and, at various points, threatening officers and members of his own family.
At one point, he is seen shouting: “I’ll kill you” in the direction of his brother.
At other times, the 19-year-old had to be restrained by officers who told him he was disturbing the peace.
“I am willing to pack up his stuff as long as he leaves out of here,” Davis’s mother told officers. “I do not want him here in his state of mind.”
The May 30th incident marked at least Davis’s seventh encounter with police since 2019. With virtually every encounter, Davis's unraveling became more apparent and questions about his mental health continued to emerge.
Records show that in 2019, his mother called police when Davis, then 16, was yelling and banging on the family's door and saying he wanted to move into foster care.
It was then that his mom told officers “he may have a mental disorder,” according to a police report, and “wished to petition him” to a hospital.
After a violent outburst in 2019, Davis’s mother called 9-1-1, telling officers “she no longer knows what to do with him,” that she tried “(sending) him to boot camp” and even “(dropping) him off at the 6th Precinct” in Detroit.
A month later, records show Davis was transported in an ambulance for a mental health petition. It’s unclear if it was granted but, months later, records show he checked himself out of Children’s Hospital in Detroit.
Then came allegations of attempted credit card theft, and later fighting in the street and being found with an illegal taser.
Davis’s troubles did not appear to be a secret.
“He’s always been like that,” said a neighbor to officers on May 30th.
Davis was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace, scheduled for court hearings the same week he shot and killed officer Loren Courts in Detroit.
There are no records that Davis was petitioned for hospitalization at Macomb County probate court, but he could have sought voluntary admission.
Earlier this month, Davis’s brother told 7 Action News that his family struggled to find mental health treatment options for the teen, but declined further comment.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
