May 7, 2015
Loretta Lynch
U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Dept. of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20530
Sarah Saldana, Director
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
500 12th
Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20536
Barbara McQuade
U.S. Attorney
211 W. Fort Street, suite 2001
Detroit, MI 48226
Re: Terrance Kellom
Dear Ms. Lynch, Ms. Saldana, and Ms. McQuade:
According to media reports, on April 27, 2015, members of the
Detroit Fugitive Apprehension
Team (DFAT) entered the home of 20-year-old Terrance Kellom. The
officers made contact with
Kellom, presumably to arrest him because of his fugitive status,
and at the end of the encounter
the young man lay dead. His body was riddled with ten bullets
fired by a U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer named Mitchell Quinn. The ICE
officer who killed Mr.
Kellom has a record of violence including criminal charges for
assault stemming from an
incident when his ex-wife alleges he held his service weapon to
her head. Also, a civil suit for
false arrest and assault filed while Mr. Quinn was a Detroit
Police Department (DPD) officer was
settled by the department for $20,000.
At or near the time of Kelloms death, the city of Baltimore, MD
was in the throes of rebellion triggered by the death of Freddie
Gray at the hands of police in that city. Both deaths were
2
among the latest in an ever-growing line of police killings that
have occurred nationwide under
questionable circumstances. It is because of all of these
killings and the consequent
destabilization of the communities in which they occur that the
undersigned organizations urge
extraordinary measures in response.
With respect to the killing of Terrance Kellom, there are
serious questions that beg for answers.
The first is why an agent from ICE, whose mission is to enforce
our countrys immigration laws, was engaged in this particular
fugitive apprehension effort. Kellom was a U.S. citizen. We
question whether ICE agents are adequately trained to deal with
non-immigration matters. In
addition, it is more likely that the police will be able
apprehend fugitives with no or minimal
resistance if the officers involved are known and trusted by the
community. The desired level of
trust may not exist between local residents and federal agents,
making it less likely that arrests
will be peaceful.
Agencies participating in the DFAT task force include not only
local law enforcement agencies
and ICE, but also, the Social Security Administration, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Explanations for the
involvement of the federal agencies will also be helpful in
evaluating not only the Kellom
killing, but also any benefits or liabilities of the task forces
operations.
Because of Kelloms death and the controversy that surrounds it,
we call for the following:
A suspension of DFAT operations and the withholding of federal
funds from the task force until investigations have been concluded
and a determination has been made that
the task force is in full compliance with all applicable laws
and regulations, and its
normal operations pose no threat to the safety and security of
communities in which they
operate
An investigation of the killing of Terrance Kellom should be
conducted by independent prosecutors.
Law enforcement officers, particularly DFAT and other task
forces operating in Detroit should be required to use body cameras.
The accounts of what happened inside of
Kelloms home are in dispute, and body cameras can reduce or
eliminate doubts about how certain law enforcement-civilian
contacts transpire. We note that the ACLU
previously called on ICE to adopt body cameras after another
non-lethal abuse incident.
However ICE refused, and that refusal that now has consequences
for what prosecutors
and the public can learn about Kelloms death.
Law enforcement agencies must engage in effective psychological
and substance abuse screening of all officers particularly those
who participate in raids like the one that resulted in the death of
Terrance Kellom.
Any deadly force protocols of law enforcement agencies that
permit the use of deadly force on occasions when an officer
reasonably fears death or serious injury should be
3
replaced by protocols that incorporate a standard oriented
toward the preservation of life;
or the use of deadly force only as a measure of last resort.
Representatives of the undersigned organizations will certainly
welcome an opportunity to meet
with you to discuss these and related issues. Arrangements for a
meeting can be made by
contacting Mark Fancher of the ACLU of Michigan, whose contact
information appears below
his signature.
Thank you for your consideration of these matters. We look
forward to speaking with you soon.
Sincerely,
Mark P. Fancher
Staff Attorney-Racial Justice Project
ACLU of Michigan
2966 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 578-6822
(313) 578-6811 (fax)
[email protected]
Ron Scott
Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality
220 Bagley, suite 808
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 399-7345
[email protected]
Dawud Walid
Executive Director
Council on American-Islamic Relations -
Michigan (CAIR-MI)
21700 Northwestern Highway, Suite 815
Southfield, MI 48075
(248) 559-2247
[email protected]
Susan E. Reed
Supervising Attorney
Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
3030 S. 9th St. Suite 1B
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
(269) 492-7196
[email protected]
Branden Snyder
Michigan United (formerly the Alliance for Immigrants Rights
& Michigan Organizing Project)
(313) 492-7696
[email protected]
cc: Chief James Craig
Prosecutor Kym Worthy
