KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A Kalamazoo County deputy has been terminated and a sergeant demoted after seven inmates were left unattended in a transport van for nearly two hours.
The incident, which occurred on May 12, stemmed from what the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office described as “a lack of supervisory oversight, inadequate communication and unintentional negligence.”
According to the sheriff’s office, one of the inmates managed to break a security window, exit the vehicle and unlock the doors, allowing the others to get out. The inmates then went to the garage area, where they pressed an intercom button to request help.
Deputies responded and escorted the inmates to the jail’s medical housing unit for evaluation. All seven were cleared and returned to their assigned housing.
An internal review found several violations of departmental directives. In addition to the firing of one deputy, two others received counseling. The supervising sergeant involved in the incident was demoted and will undergo retraining for the new role, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said it is reviewing its current jail transport policies to prevent a similar situation in the future.
“We are not happy at all that this happened,” Sheriff Richard Fuller told WWMT. “We’re not going to hide from it. We’re going to make sure people understand that when something goes wrong, we investigate it and work to make it better.”
In a statement, the sheriff’s office emphasized its commitment to transparency and accountability while ensuring the integrity of ongoing and future investigations.
