No charges filed against police officers in death of Michigan teenager hit by police car during chase

A prosecutor declined Tuesday to file charges against a police officer who struck and killed a western Michigan teenager as he fled from a stolen car.

Instead, Kent County District Attorney Chris Becker charged the teen driver with vehicular manslaughter while fleeing police.

Riley Doggett, 17, was struck by a patrol car driven by a deputy at the end of a chase in Kent and Ottawa counties on April 8. He died of head injuries on May 9.

Doggett and another teenager who was driving fled on foot from a stolen Range Rover after the vehicle collided with parked cars in a commercial district, investigators said.

Becker said the deputy thought Doggett was dangerous, even though the teenager was holding a phone rather than a gun.

“He did not try to use deadly force against a fleeing felon. He tried to cut him off,” the prosecutor said.

The deputy hit Doggett in the leg with the side of his patrol car, which was “horrible,” Becker said.

Ven Johnson, an attorney for Doggett’s family, publicly called on authorities last week to release dashcam videos and other details, saying the family had been kept in the dark for too long.

Even if the teenager did “something stupid,” he did not deserve to be the victim of “illegal, unnecessary, deadly violence,” Johnson said Friday, hours before a memorial service for Doggett.

“Their job is to arrest him – period. Not to be judge, jury and executioner,” Johnson said of the police.

Doggett’s mother, Becky Wilbert, said he was a “good boy” despite the circumstances surrounding his death.

“He was funny. He was smart. He was a great student,” Wilbert said. “He was always cracking jokes and making everyone laugh. He was the part of our family that held everyone together.”

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