Elderly Parents Unable to Return to Home After Violent Police Search

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Michelle Armstrong has never seen her father cry, until the day he returned home to find his 31-year residence heavily damaged by Grand Rapids Police Department officers searching for her brother.

The Liptrot family's Burton Heights home on Darwin Avenue, where 89-year-old John Liptrot Sr. and his wife Carol, 73, had lived for three decades, was left in ruins after police conducted a search for a suspect.

"I never seen my dad cry until that day," Armstrong said. "That wasn't like that. None of this was like that. This was actually the bedroom. So this is where this mattress was. Is over here."

Armstrong said the damage included holes in plaster walls, belongings scattered across upstairs bedrooms, and the lingering smell of pepper spray in the basement. She had to step out of the basement during her interview because of the effects of the pepper spray.

"I'm sneezing, I'm coughing. My nose is raw, my lungs are hurting. You can't stand there very long," Armstrong said.

Police Cite Safety Concerns in Hostage Situation

According to Grand Rapids Police, officers responded around 9:20 a.m. Sunday to a report of a domestic assault at the home involving a physical altercation in which a man was seen strangling a woman.

By the time officers arrived, the two had gone back inside the house. When officers attempted to get the elderly couple to exit the basement, police said the man claimed to have a weapon and threatened officers.

Authorities then began treating the situation as a hostage situation and obtained a search warrant for the home. Armstrong says that's when officers removed her parents from the residence.

"My dad is 89, my mom is 73. My mother can barely walk, and for you to just snatch her and drag her down the stairs," Armstrong said. "My parents are my best friends, so to see my mom in the state that she was in, it was hurtful."

Interim Police Chief Joe Trigg defended the department's actions in a written statement.

"Our highest priority was saving the victim's life and doing everything we could to get the suspect into custody safely," Trigg said. "Officers could not in good conscience allow the elderly couple back into the home without a thorough search. Due to some ongoing renovations in the home, there were areas behind the drywall and other atypical locations where an adult could be hiding that required investigation."

Trigg added that the department is not attempting to avoid accountability and encouraged the family to file a claim through the city's Risk Management process.

"There were areas behind the drywall and other atypical locations where an adult could be hiding that required investigation. This is not an attempt to avoid accountability for the damage that occurred," Trigg said.

Family Questions Use of Force

Despite understanding that officers had a job to do, Armstrong says the level of force used was unnecessary. She identified the suspect as her brother.

"I don't take away from that you have to do your job, but you didn't have to do it so violently. These are elderly people that live here," Armstrong said.

Armstrong said officers damaged the home by overturning furniture, tearing through drywall, throwing clothes throughout the residence, and deploying pepper balls inside. She noted that the effects were still noticeable when she visited.

Kent County Commissioner Calls Out Pattern of Issues

Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack addressed the incident, stating it is not isolated.

"From over 15 families, I've heard, 'We don't live in squalor. If we let the news in, they're going to think this is how we were living, and this is how people think of our community,'" Womack said.

Investigation Ongoing

According to Grand Rapids Police, the suspect was not found after officers went through the home. The suspect is not in custody and the investigation is ongoing.

Trigg encourages the family to submit a claim through the city's Risk Management department, which can determine if the city is liable for the damage. He also said he asked the department's Victim Services Unit to reach out to the couple to assist with the claims process and connect them with available community and nonprofit resources.

Armstrong says the family has set up a GoFundMe to help with recovery.

"I think that there was a way to go in and look for somebody without destroying everything that a person works hard for," Armstrong said.

The Liptrot family has been displaced since the incident and are currently unable to be inside their home.