LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A former DeWitt police officer has been sentenced to one year of probation, as well as an anger management course, in connection to an incident where he drew a gun on a Black teen newspaper delivery driver.
Former officer Chad Vorce, 45, pled no contest last month to a misdemeanor offense due to his actions against Alexander Hamilton in January 2021.
When he followed Hamilton, who was out delivering papers for the Lansing State Journal, out of a neighborhood, Vorce said he thought the boy was trying to back into his truck.
“He just tried to ram me!” Vorce said on a 911 call. “He’s trying to ram me! I’m going to go shots fired if he does it again!”
Vorce pointed his gun at Hamilton while he was still in his van, so Hamilton drove away toward a gas station. They both drove around the gas pumps until they both stopped when Vorce got out of his vehicle and pointed his gun at Hamilton.
He is charged with Public Officer–Willful Neglect of Duty and Aggravated Assault and was sentenced Monday in Clinton County Circuit Court.
As a condition of state prosecution accepting Vorce’s plea, he resigned his position as a police officer and has relinquished his Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards certification, which is required to serve as a police officer in Michigan.
The deal allowed Vorce to plead to the misdemeanor charges, rather than the felony charges originally filed against him in 2022: assault with a dangerous weapon, felony firearm and misconduct in office.
A separate trial in a civil case filed by Vorce’s attorney is yet to happen.
