A sheriff’s deputy who arrested a Black Michigan man for “soliciting” though he was only collecting signatures to help his community has been fired.
The announcement about the unidentified deputy’s termination was made by Calhoun County Sheriff Steve Hinkley and Undersheriff Timothy Hurtt on Friday, Jan. 22 after an internal investigation, MLive reported.
“We hold ourselves to high standards of professionalism to the communities we protect. When we are right, we are right. When we are wrong, we admit we are wrong. On January 2, we were wrong,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
La’Ron Marshall, 44, was going door to door on Jan. 2 collecting signatures to form a tenant association where he lives at the Wyndtree Apartments where he lives in the southern Michigan town of Springfield. He was approached by while he was at his neighbor Kimberly Totzke’s apartment by two deputies who said they’d received a call about someone soliciting.
Black man arrested for collecting signatures says deputy’s firing is ‘start toward change’
Updated Jan 23, 2021;
Posted Jan 23, 2021
La Ron Marshall pose for a portrait at his housing complex in Springfield, Michigan on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. On Jan. 2 Marshall was arrested by Calhoun County Sheriff deputies, later they apologized for the arrest and dropped the charges. He was going door-to-door in his neighborhood gathering signatures to form a tenant organization for his community. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)Joel Bissell | MLive.com
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BATTLE CREEK, MI La’Ron Marshall believes the firing of the Calhoun County sheriff’s deputy who arrested him as he collected signatures is a “start toward change.”