There will be no criminal charges filed against two Wayne police officers who shot and killed a man who had called 911 for help after stabbing himself more than 50 times during a suicide attempt during a mental health crisis.
A statement from the office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, the circumstances of the incident indicate the officers were justified in their actions.
The incident occurred at about 2:35 p.m. June 18 when the two Wayne police officers responded to an apartment building in the 35000 block of West Michigan Avenue for a reported attempted suicide. John Zook Jr., the resident, reported that he just tried to kill himself by cutting himself all over with a knife and said that his 4-year-old child was in the apartment with him. Zook told police that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but that he was not on medication because he had stopped taking it some time ago, according to police reports of the incident.
Police said Zook repeatedly refused to obey officers’ commands when they responded to his 911 call at his home. Officers found him shirtless brandishing a knife, according to reports. He was reportedly holding the knife in his right hand with the blade facing downward and officers observed several cuts on his torso while standing 6 to 8 feet from him. When officers repeatedly ordered Zook to drop the knife, he refused. Officers warned Zook they would use a taser on him but he continued to resist officers’ orders to drop the knife. Rather, he came toward the officers who were still in the hallway in front of his door. As Zook came forward toward them, one officer deployed his taser striking Zook during the 15-second encounter. The device had no effect, according to police accounts of the incident, and another officer fired his weapon, striking Zook four times. He then fell to the floor in the hallway of his apartment, still clutching the knife, police reports said.
Officers immediately called for medical assistance although Zook succumbed to the gunshots. He had suffered at least 54 stab wounds to his neck, chest and abdomen, according to coroner’s reports.
According to police, the child slept through the entire event and was immediately removed from the apartment. Worthy said that the officers were acting in self-defense based in part on a review of police body cam video. The two first responding officers wore body cameras, which according to Worthy, captured this encounter.
“In Michigan, police officers have the same right to self-defense and defense of others as any other person,” Worthy said in a statement.
According to Worthy, the legal standard in Michigan for the use of deadly force in self-defense or defense of others looks at whether the person using the force is reasonably in fear of imminent death or great bodily harm to them or someone else.
The officers, she concluded, met this legal standard.
“At the time officers used force they objectively knew that Mr. Zook was armed with a knife, which would be legally considered a dangerous weapon. Mr. Zook was apparently actively suffering a mental health crisis, was not acting rationally, and just attempted to kill himself,” according to Worthy’s prepared statement. “He was not responding to commands while standing armed a very short distance from the officers. They also knew that Mr. Zook’s young child was present in the apartment with him.”
The officers have not been named by prosecutors, Worthy said, as her office does not name individuals who have not been charged.
