Michigan State Police shoot armed man in VBT

On Friday, Sept. 30, the intersection of Haggerty Road and East Huron River Drive in Van Buren Township was closed to traffic at about 1 p.m. as Michigan State Police Troopers confronted a man in a pick up truck and then shot him when he allegedly pointed a gun at them.
Huron Valley Ambulance took the white male, who was shot in the side, to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital where he died.
Police have identified him as Richard Parent, 37, of Flat Rock.
MSP Lt. Michael Shaw told television crews at the scene that Parent was stopped at about 12:48 p.m. on Van Born and Telegraph roads in Taylor for a traffic infraction. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
Lt. Shaw said Parent would not produce a driver’s license, saying he was a “sovereign citizen” and didn’t have to have a driver’s license because he was not really a citizen of the U.S.
He rolled up the window on his black Ford F-150 truck and police broke a back window trying to get him to come out of the vehicle.
Parent then drove off, with police in pursuit, through city streets at up to 70 mph and more than 100 mph on the freeways as he got on westbound I-94 to northbound I-275 to Ford Road to Cherry Hill and finally to Haggerty.
After he got off the freeway, police tried two PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuvers, with one trooper suffering a seriously dislocated thumb in the collision from the first PIT. That trooper was evaluated at a hospital and since has been released.
The pursuit ended after the second PIT caused the truck to spin out and police boxed it in near the corner of Haggerty and East Huron River Drive, at the entrance to Lower Huron Metropark.
Parent got out and ran to a treeline. He allegedly took a shooting stance and two state troopers fired. One is a 12-year veteran and one is an eight-year veteran.
Lt. Shaw said there was no identification on the driver, but he later was identified and police are looking into his background.
He said Parent could have been given a simple citation for not wearing a seatbelt, or the trooper could have given him a warning.
Lt. Shaw said he has seen an increase in people refusing to follow the commands of law enforcement officers.
He said the Michigan State Police is investigating the shooting as it usually investigates its own cases. A 9mm Glock handgun reportedly was found at the scene and Lt. Shaw said they would be doing tests to see if it had been fired.