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Photo by Austen Smith
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It was near the intersection of Eugene and Cuyaga Avenues, in the West Willow neighborhood of Ypsi Township, that a tragic death occurred after a local man confronted deputies.
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A man died last Thursday after a physical confrontation with deputies from Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.
Clifton Lee Jr., 45, stopped breathing after police used pepper spray to subdue him during a confrontation near the intersection of Eugene and Cayuga Avenues in Ypsilanti Township.
Emergency services rushed Lee to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Donna Tokarczyk, of the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner's Office, said, "The cause of death is pending."
Tokarczyk said the autopsy had been completed, but the cause of death has not been determined.
"It could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months," Tokarczyk said.
The incident took place around 1:30 a.m. in the West Willow neighborhood near Kaiser Elementary School in Ypsilanti Township.
Two Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation.
"A relative of Clifton Lee was in the car," Washtenaw County Sheriff's Commander Dave Egeler said.
The two people inside the vehicle both had arrest warrants.
"They were approached by other subjects in the neighborhood," Egeler said. "Fearing for their safety, the police called for back up."
"Multiple officers from at least two different agencies responded to the call."
An official statement from the Michigan State Police said Lee began to move closer to the officers who warned him to stay away.
"A subsequent physical confrontation ensued between Mr. Lee and the officers," read the report.
The help of the state police was enlisted by the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department early Thursday morning.
"We felt it was pretty important from the very beginning to have adequate recourses involved in the investigation," Egeler said.
The State Police are now the lead agency.
"Obviously the use of force, resulting in their death, on someone is who is unarmed and not resisting arrest is against the law," said Paul Broschay, an attorney representing Lee's family.
"We have witnesses saying that the amount of force used on [Lee] and on others was horrendous," Broschay said.
Broschay is with Southfield law firm of Fieger, Fieger, Kennedy and Johnson. He is waiting for autopsy reports before filing a law suit against the sheriff's department.
"It was for no reason for them to just attack him," said Mike Ruffin, who lives in the area. "He ain't bothered nobody. All he did was work on his cars."
Ruffin said since the incident, the police have been acting different towards the residents of the area.
"They've just been harassing people for no reason," Ruffin said.
The two subjects pulled over in the car were arrested, as well as one of the individuals who approached the scene.
One of the subjects in the car, a 20-year-old Ypsilanti man was taken into custody for several outstanding warrants, as well as the individual who approached the scene.
The second subject in the car, a 23-year-old man from Superior Township, was released at the scene because Wayne County law enforcement was not able to pick him up.
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