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The officers involved in the incident, both males, were placed on administrative leave, which is standard policy for both the East Grand Rapids Department of Public Safety and the Grand Rapids Police Department. East Grand Rapids requested the investigation to be handled by the Grand Rapids Police Department Major Case Team and Internal Affairs Unit, which began their work at the scene.
Herald stated that East Grand Rapids has no policy on when a Taser should be used or how many times. The department first obtained Taser units in January 2009, and the officers involved in the incident were trained on the device. Herald referred to them as veterans of the force but did not say how long each has been a police officer.
It is commonly known that a person can be resistant to tasing if drunk or high, but Herald nor Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk could say whether Bolick was in that kind of shape.
Shortly after 5:45 p.m. Thursday, the unidentified man had been driving erratically near Square Lake and Woodward and hit several cars with his white van before assaulting someone who’d approached him at a gas station, where he’d briefly stopped, investigators said.
Investigators say after the crash, the driver got out of his van and began "assaulting police officers" who in turn used tasers on the suspect. Police were able to finally handcuff the suspect, who then stopped breathing. Officers performed CPR, but the man died. His identity wasn't being released early Friday morning.
Police say because the tasers had little effect and the man was combative, it appeared he was under the influence of an unknown substance.
Police say a man they believe was on drugs led them on a high-speed chase and died Thursday night after officers used a Taser to subdue him.