John Kelsey nears 7 years in prison

Public Policy
Analysis, opinion & ideas from Steve Harry

September 30, 2021

The following is a reproduction of an August 10, 2012 story in the Hartford Courant:

Chevy Issues Recall For Impala Police Cruisers

General Motors is recalling 36,413 Chevrolet Impala Police Sedans for problems with the suspension. (Chevrolet Division - General Motors)

Doug Stewart

August 10, 2012

Chevrolet is planning on issuing recall notices for 2008-2012 Impala police cruisers due to a defect in the suspension.

The division of General Motors said in a press release that it plans "to replace the front lower control arms that support the vehicle's wheels." The company said the recall is only for the police model and does not affect the regular consumer vehicles.

The recall will cover over 37,000 sedans in the United States and Canada.

The front lower control arm fractures and separates from its handling bushing sleeve, causing the changes in handling and steering, said the company. There have been no reported incidents because of the problem.

Chevrolet will start notifying fleet managers after Aug. 21.

This is from the April 1, 2019 article, What happens if control arm breaks while driving?

It directly affects steering performance. The steering’s alignment gets shifted, causing it to pull either right or the left side. The problem becomes more noticeable at the time of braking or driving on rough terrain.

The police cruiser Ingham County Sheriff Deputy Grant Whitaker was driving when he crashed and died December 7, 2014, was included in that recall. The Sheriff's Office had over two years to get those control arms replaced and failed to do so. The car was at Shaheen Chevrolet for service only a few days before the crash, but although the open recall is mentioned on the service sheet, it did not get taken care of:

Whitaker was traveling 117 miles per hour at 2:00 a.m. on a two-lane country road in a car the Sheriff's Office had known for two years to have defective front lower control arms, yet blame for his death was placed on John Kelsey, the guy he was chasing. Kelsey has been incarcerated for nearly 7 years, serving a minimum 20, maximum 45 years for fleeing and eluding resulting in death. Extra time was added because he was considered a habitual offender. He had three prior felonies, two of which were marijuana related. All three occurred over 13 years earlier. Kelsey was 34 years old at the time of the crash.

Michigan's fleeing and eluding law doesn't care who/what actually caused the crash. It says "fleeing and eluding resulting in death". So if you flee the police and someone gets killed, you can be charged regardless of the degree of your involvement. Still, sentence lengths have varied. My research turned up three other cases:

In July 2005, officers responded to a report of a car driving erratically on U.S 94 in southwest Michigan. Matawan police officer Scot Beyerstadt and his training officer, Daniel Hutchins, spotted the driver and gave chase. Beyerstadt lost control going around a turn traveling at about 90 mph and hit a tree. Hutchins was injured and Beyerstadt died. Mark David Wood, 43, was convicted of fleeing and eluding resulting in death and was sentenced to 65 months to 25 years. (source) He was out after 8 years. Here is his prison record.
In December 2015 in Flint, Curtis Lee was fleeing police when the State Police officer pursuing him hit another car, killing one person and injuring 2 others. (source) Lee was imprisoned for only a little over 3 years. The prosecutor apparently did not feel he could pin responsibility on anyone but the officer, who received a 30-day suspension and a transfer. Here is Lee's prison record.
Davante Grover actually did kill someone. While fleeing police in Flint in July 2016, he crashed into another car and killed a 42-year-old woman, the driver of the car. The woman's husband was also injured and another woman received critical injuries. He got off with minimum 4.5, maximum 6 years. (source) Here is his prison record.

John Kelsey has been in prison far too long for a death in which he had no direct involvement - a death likely caused by Deputy Whtaker's recklessness and/or the Ingham County Sheriff's negligence. He needs to be let out.

Here are my previous stories on this:

	1/13/2015	Who killed Deputy Grant Whitaker?
	7/27/2015	God's servant pays ultimate price, parents get $400,000
	12/15/2016	Overkill: Avenging the Death of Deputy Grant Whitaker
	2/15/2019	John Kelsey is serving a 20-year sentence for a 2-year offense
	12/22/2020	Defect may have caused crash that killed Deputy Grant Whitaker

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