GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The death certificate for a man who was hit by an unmarked police cruiser last week indicates he sustained “multiple blunt force injuries” and died about five hours after the crash.
The death certificate for Samuel Sterling, 25, of Grand Rapids, indicates he was a “pedestrian struck by a vehicle.” The document says the crash happened around 11:25 a.m. on April 17 and his time of death was listed as 4:15 p.m.
The manner of death is listed as “accident.”
The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy was out of town and unavailable for comment Wednesday, according to Lori Latham, assistant county administrator in Kent County.
Latham noted that the accident ruling “does not preclude the prosecutor from pursuing a case if warranted by the evidence and applicable law.”
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Michigan State Police say they were looking for Sterling because he had outstanding felony warrants. They found him at a gas station near the intersection of 52nd Street and Eastern Avenue in Kentwood. They say when they approached, Sterling ran away. Several officers chased him on foot and an MSP detective sergeant in an unmarked vehicle “drove parallel to him,” the MSP director said in a statement last week . Sterling and the officers ended up in the parking lot of a nearby Burger King. That’s where the unmarked cruiser hit Sterling , police say. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died.