Who’s on Patrol for the East Lansing Police Department? Who Knows!

Six months after East Lansing police officers fatally shot 21-year-old Isaiah Kirby, his mother is demanding answers about the shooting and the officers involved. At a town hall this month, Karyn Kirby told a gathering of local activists that the officers who killed her son are back on duty. City officials won’t say if that’s true.

On April 15, ELPD officers fired about 20 shots at Isaiah shortly after he was suspected of stabbing a local attorney. The shooting has been controversial, largely because shots were fired in three distinct volleys – two while Isaiah was no longer on his feet – leading some residents to say officers used excessive force and Isaiah’s death could have been prevented. 

A month after the incident, the ELPD released footage of the shooting and the names of four officers who were placed on paid leave: Beck Martin, Brennan Surman, Benjamin Saylor and Zane Johnson Chasteen. 

But did the ELPD quietly return the officers to duty? City officials won’t say. 

“Regarding the officers that is a personnel matter and I have no comment,” Interim City Manager Annette Irwin said in an email to East Lansing Info Wednesday evening. 

At city meetings and the Oct. 8 town hall, Karyn has called for the release of the internal investigation into the shooting. 

“East Lansing, where is your review?” Karyn asked at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting. “Release the review, put the findings in writing and if East Lansing concluded that everything these officers did complied with policy, then say that publicly.” 

The investigation, however, is ongoing, Irwin said in her email on Wednesday. Police Chief Jennifer Brown said at a City Council meeting in May that the officers could return to duty before the review is complete. 

In June, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office announced the matter had been referred to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to determine whether or not officers face criminal charges. The Attorney General’s office has not responded to an email ELi sent Wednesday night, asking if charges are still being considered. 

Despite promises of transparency, the city is withholding more information about policing.

Even before Karyn Kirby spoke at the town hall this month, ELi was attempting to determine if the officers involved in the shooting had returned to duty. On Sept 29, ELi filed a Freedom of Information Act request, asking for the ELPD’s shift schedule on Sept. 26, a busy Saturday, to see if Martin, Surman, Saylor or Johnson Chasteen were scheduled. 

The shift schedule that ELi received has every name redacted. 

While East Lansing police and city officials have repeated verbal and written commitments to transparency, the city is now declining to say which officers are working taxpayer funded shifts. 

The last couple of years in East Lansing have been marked by opaque proceedings around policing controversies and new policies that roll back transparency. 

Last year, the police department began redacting officers’ names on reports that describe times when officers use force on the job. The change was required by a new bargaining agreement the city agreed to with a police union. 

The bargaining agreement also placed new limitations on members of the city’s Police Oversight Commission, banning them from saying police employees names during meetings and requiring them to keep more information confidential. 

In 2024, the police department began requiring members of the oversight commission to watch body-camera footage in-person, instead of sending them videos to watch at home. In the years since, the volunteer commissioners have said the change has made it much harder to view footage, as they have different job schedules that make it difficult to attend limited viewing slots. Because single incidents include several angles from different officers and squad cars’ cameras, it can take hours to review footage. 

As a result, there are times where commissioners discuss incidents at meetings, but only some members have seen footage of what happened.

City officials have also declined to comment on the city’s biggest policing controversies, notably an incident last fall where an officer pepper-sprayed two Black men downtown and the police department publicized their arrest. The police department took the extremely unusual step of naming both men, Lonnie Smith and Mason Woods, in a press release that said they were arrested for misdemeanors related to fighting. Smith’s mother had been speaking critically of the police department at city meetings before the press release was issued. 

The men’s attorney later released surveillance footage that appears to undermine the police narrative and show Smith come from the curb to deescalate a confrontation in front of a downtown restaurant. Charges against both men were dropped after the video was made public. The men are now suing the city, and city officials have not answered questions about the matter due to the pending litigation. 

Increasingly, members of the city’s Police Oversight Commission and Human Rights Commission have become frustrated with city attorneys for wanting to address issues, like a surge in police use of force in 2025, in closed-door meetings. Some commissioners believe attorneys are attempting to unnecessarily hide these conversations from the public.