Speaking with East Lansing Info following Tuesday’s City Council meeting, City Manager Robert Belleman explained the city’s silence surrounding East Lansing’s biggest policing controversy in years: City officials can’t talk about the incident without risking East Lansing’s insurance coverage.
For five months, residents have routinely come to City Council meetings saying ELPD officers used excessive force during Michigan State University’s welcome weekend and called for the resignation of Police Chief Jen Brown.
On Aug. 24, an officer pepper-sprayed two young Black men downtown. About a month after the incident, ELPD issued a press release defending officers’ actions during the interaction and named two men who were charged with crimes related to fighting. The attorney for the men subsequently released security camera footage of the incident that paints a much different picture than the press release…