Death by Cop- 2022
Search fatalities
You can use any or all of the fields to refine the search.
Erik Poul Moller Nielsen
Case # :432
Gender : Male
Age : Not Disclosed
Race : White
Date : 03/31/2022
Location : 100 block of Hawthorne Drive
City : Columbia Township
County : Jackson
State : Michigan
Agency : Columbia Township Police Department
Officer(s) :Ben Hovarter
Cause of Death : Taser
Event : Killed by police during mental health crisis
Disposition : No known charges
Open Records Summary :
Police responded to a medical emergency. Erik Nielsen allegedly had a massive seizure at 2 a.m. 911 was called and police appeared. Officer Ben Hovarter allegedly chased the naked postictal man around and fired his taser at him several times. He finally shot Nielsen in the back multiple times, killing him. Seizures are the result of an electrical imbalance in the brain and adding 50,000 volts of electricity to a person who just had a seizure is highly dangerous. A person who is postictal after a seizure often cannot respond properly and he likely was unable to understand or cooperate with police in his medical state.