17-year-old dies a month after he was hit by deputy’s cruiser, Michigan attorney says
A teenager who spent the last month in the hospital after being hit by a Michigan deputy’s cruiser has died, his family’s attorney confirmed to media outlets.
Riley Doggett, 17, died May 9, attorney Ven Johnson told WZZM.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office said Doggett was running away from a deputy in Wyoming when he was struck April 8, MLive reported.
McClatchy News reached out to both the Kent County Sheriff’s Office and Johnson for comment May 10 but did not immediately hear back.
The deputy was trying to stop a stolen vehicle believed to be connected to several crimes in the county when two occupants fled on foot, according to an April 8 news release from the the sheriff’s office.
“A deputy’s vehicle hit one of the fleeing occupants, causing serious injuries,” the sheriff’s office said.
Doggett’s family told WXMI that the accident left him with head injuries.
“I wish they would have tased him, chased him, anything other than a car,” Doggett’s sister, Taylor Daniels, told WXMI in April. “Any injury other than his head, honestly.”
“Although it is tragic when a young life is impacted, it’s important to understand this pursuit started when a stolen vehicle was observed ramming an uninvolved car, jeopardizing the safety of our entire community,” the sheriff’s office said in an April statement obtained by MLive.
Dashboard camera footage of the incident has not been released, Johnson told WOOD.
“All it does is it rises the level of suspicion that something else is going on,” he said.
Wyoming is about a 5-mile drive south of Grand Rapids.
