GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A criminal justice professor and former police lieutenant said the officer who hit a suspected murderer with his patrol car was using the vehicle appropriately to stop a violent person.
"A patrol car is a tool," said Dr. Kristin Poleski, a criminal justice professor at Ferris State University. "You have seconds, split seconds, to make a decision, to evaluate the situation. ... Officers did need to take action quickly in the safest manner possible for everybody."
Adam Nolin was hit by the cruiser Thursday after leading police on a chase along US-131 into downtown Grand Rapids. Police were pursuing Nolin because he was suspected of shooting and killing his girlfriend Tia Randall, who was found dead in Wyoming earlier that morning.
Nolin crashed his pickup truck on the S-curve, then allegedly started shooting at police. They returned fire, but no one was actually shot. The suspect then took off running, and video from a nearby WOOD TV8 skycam recorded a Grand Rapids Police Department cruiser hitting him.
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