BE TO HA BO -The
ci ty of Benton Harbor fired
the police officer ho h ig­
ni ted and united thi city
responding to the officer's
hooti I of a fleeing, un­
armed man.
Tuesday night, February
20, City Manager Steve Man­
ning, held a pres conference
to give his ruling on the City
of Becton Harbor's investiga­
tion bf the January 18, shoot­
ing, here Lt. Marvin Fied­
ler, a 19 year veteran of the
Benton Harbor Police Depart­
ment; hot and killed 21 year­
old orr Stephen Maben.
Tbe city m na ge r an­
nounced, Fiedler bad been
fired, but refused to explain
why. According to Manning's
relea e, "consistent with its
policie , the city can make no
further comment regarding
tbi matter."
Before Manning made bi
statement, be said tbat there
� were "two very serious mis­
takes made".
"0 E MISTAKE cost
one of the ci lizens of tbis
communi ty bis life and tbe
second, co t a 29 year veteran
of the Benton Harbor Police
Department his job said Man­
ning."
"The city i not in the po i­
lion to evaluate the facts Jead­
ing up to what co t tbose mi -
takes - tbe deatb defying
leap out of the window, shots
tbat ere fired resulting in
the deatb - e can only
evaluate bat happened ver-
e the expected behavior of
tbe police officer that was in­
volved, ver e tbe
department's regulations,".
said Manning.
Manning said he feels bad
about the Maben family and
about the police officer, but
still would not reveal the
facts he used to come to the
decision. He said there were
m ny factors involved in the
12-day investigation.
Many in tbe community
feel the city's firing of Fied­
ler was an attempt to make
the best of a bad ituation: it
allows Fiedler to sue the city
and get a large out-of-court
settlement; it also appease .
the wrath of the community.
CITY COMMIS-
SIO ERS CHARLES
Yarbrough and .Ge o rg e
Wysinger criticized Manning
for not revealing what facts
he used in making his
decision to terminate 1.
Fiedler.
Mayor William Wolf said
if Manning released all the
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·y·Fie
ler fire
documentation, it ould put
the city at risk ..
Wolf aid tbe only ay
Manning could relea e the
findings as that if tlie
majority of the commission
forced him to do so.
Wysinger said thal when
Berrien County Prosecutor
Dennis Wiley announ�d his
finding, he released a 19:"
page statement to the public.
"The City Manager has a
report and everyone should
know wbat's in the report", he
said.
"I think the Mab n family
has right along i�h the
citizens of Benton Harbor to
kno what made r. Man­
ning come to the point 0 ter­
minate the police officer. If it
takes bringing out the entire
12 or 13 page report - let it
be brought out, said
Wysinger. "We ar liable
anyw y." .
Yarbrough said be fact
that Manning terminated
Fiedler, means he d d some­
tbing wrong :- automatically
the city is liable. ' I
"I STRO GLY en­
courage the commission to
support the manager on this
one", aid Mayor Wolf, "be­
cause we are relying on the
professionals tbat we bave
hired to run the City, but why
when we have allowed him to
conduct the investigation and
make a concl usion, wby now
are we questioning his judge­
ment on this is ue".
Wol f said he had a chance
to read the report and the
other commissioners would
have a chance to review 'the
document, also.
City Attorney John Po telli
told the commission tbe
report ubmilted by the
variou law enforcement offi­
cial were "at least 4 or IS in­
che thick".
Continued on 17
POSTELLI S ID tbere
were many thing in. tbose
• documents that ware not put
in the release because the
prosecutor picked certain
tbings out of the document.
Criticism by the public
over the lack of Black police
officers was aired again.
City resident Curtis Mur­
phy told Manning. tbat be
knew for a fact that two Black
qualified candidates that ap­
plied for jobs as police of­
ficers in the city of Benton
Harbor ware not hired, but got
hired by Grand Rapids Police
Department and the Sheriff'
Department.
Murphy said he is al 0 as­
king Manning along wi th the
commis ion to "order Sam
Watson" (Director of Public
Safety) to come to the next
mee ti ng city commission
meeting so the people of the
community would h ve "the
opportunity to get at the truth
of the situation surrounding
the incident involving the
departments of which he
heads."
Murphy said Benton Har­
bor is similar to Soutb Africa.
"This community i made up
of 90 percent African
Americans. We are the
majority in the city, and yet
YARBROUGH PUT a
motion on the floor asking
Manning to relea e tbe find­
ings on his investigation, but
tbe inotion failed by a 6-2
vote.
"I agree that citizens has a
right to certain information" t
said Commissioner Ralph
Crenshaw, but, "I thin we
also bave a legal right to rep­
resent the best interest of the
city and wben it come to li­
able - tben we are obligated .
to protect the taxpayers
money."
"We are obligated also to
I protect the Ii ves of the
ci tizens of Benton Harbor. -
1 put a life in the City of Ben­
ton Harbor far more than I do
the dollars that we have in the
city", said Wysinger.
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