Guest Post: Remembering Joey Nagle

Today, I am mirroring an article for my friend Kelly Jo Nagle, mother of Joey Nagle.

Joey died as a result of an officer related shooting. The details around Joey’s death are murky; his family deserve answers.

By Donald Talonen

Mother’s Day is approaching and I am thinking of Kelly Jo Nagle, the mother of Joesph Maverick Nagle. Joseph Nagle was tragically shot, and his injury resulted in his death on the night of June 16, 2022. Nearly two years have passed since an unidentified Allegan County deputy felt the need to use lethal force in a situation that should have been a normal traffic stop. There was no dash cam video footage, there was no body cam video footage from the incident, and there is just the word of the one living person who was involved in the incident. “I want accountability, nobody has questioned the deputy’s story,” pleaded Kelly Jo Nagle.

People who knew Joey described him as a “lovable person,” and a “big, gentle giant” who was “non-confrontational.” Joey Nagle was an all-state wrestler and considered a career in law enforcement but did not like guns. Instead, the memory of Joey Nagle has been tarnished by many unconfirmed claims by mystery witnesses and reported instances of hearsay statements that are assumed to be fact. We heard what Joey did during the day of the incident. So what did the deputy do during the day? Why were the details of his day kept private?

The prosecutor determined based on his words alone that the deputy feared for his life and because of this, the course of action chosen was warranted. Unfortunately, this decision does not sit well with many in the community or myself because of the eclipse of doubt which, is way more than a shadow of doubt. The belief that the deputy feared for their life is purely assumption and speculative at best due to the absence of dash cam, body cam, or any other witness confirmation.

According to criminal jury instructions, testimony made by a police officer is to be judged by the same standards you use to evaluate the testimony of any other witness. Meaning, that just because someone holds the position/occupation of a police officer, does not make their words any more reliable, trustworthy, or meaningful just because of the title/position that they hold.

With the details provided, it is nearly impossible to understand how the event escalated so quickly when it was reported that “Nagle began raising his voice while grabbing his head and asking why the deputy was still testing him”. The report further states “He asked in a raised voice why they were still doing the testing and why it was necessary. Nagle repeatedly stated he did not do drugs because he works for a delivery service. Nagle began turning in circles with his hands on his head stating he had bad anxiety.

Behaviors such as “acting agitated and moving quickly,” or behaving “erratically” can hardly be described as being justified behaviors for the use of deadly force. There appear to be many other actions that would have been more appropriate, such as a call requesting backup while attempting to de-escalate the current situation. If the Deputy had requested backup before the situation progressed then maybe, the incident would have ended with a different outcome, a less deadly outcome.

For the sake of a clear understanding of the situation we would like to know, why the traffic stop progressed without backup; and if a dangerous situation was imminent as described by the Prosecutor. If Joey was behaving “erratically” wouldn’t it seem like a logical conclusion to make attempts to de-escalate the situation and wait for backup deputies to arrive? In this scenario, the Deputy would have been allowed the opportunity to help someone who was clearly in need of some kind of assistance based on the reports.

So what is the answer to Joey Nagle’s questions? Why was he still being tested at that time? If the Deputy observed the situation as reported then it seems like Joey would have been better served by taking a moment to explain the situation if possible before continuing the investigation. Why did the Deputy continue to engage in a situation where the subject was “agitated” or acting “erratically”? Why did the Deputy continue to push when it was reported that Joey stated he had “bad anxiety”?

If for a moment we consider the reported events to be completely accurate, how can one not help but wonder? Why would the Deputy expect a 22-year-old who is suspected to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol to continue the investigation without the protection of backup being present? This scenario seems irresponsible and unavoidable due to it resulting in the loss of a young man’s life, but hindsight is 20/20 and it does not appear that we have been provided with all the pertinent information regarding the incident to have a clear picture of what went wrong.

The relevance of the allegations against Joey appears to be irrelevant, they do not appear to be related to the incident that resulted in his death, and they appear to paint someone no longer able to defend himself in a negative light. Certainly, the accusations have nothing to do with the deputy fearing for their life. It does not seem just that Joey is not here to defend himself against the accusations from mystery witnesses who were the only person with a weapon and were the only surviving party of the incident.

On June 23, 2022, the Justice For Joey Nagle Facebook page was created to honor his memory. The Facebook page has gained 897 followers at the time of this writing. You can show your support by liking and following the page.

It’s worth mentioning that on June 12, 2022, a fatal accident occurred involving an Allegan County Deputy, the Deputy was engaged in a high-speed chase in pursuit of a suspect. Sheriff Frank Baker said a dash camera was not found when the crash happened. It should be pointed out that this is yet another instance where the entire Allegan judiciary and community could have benefited from dash cameras and body cameras for the sheriff deputies. Instead, the case went to trial becoming a burden on taxpayers.

More than a year later, on August 10, 2023, the above-mentioned Allegan County Sheriff’s Deputy was found not guilty of his involvement in the fatal crash that occurred. There was no indication whether the Sheriff’s Department had successfully deployed dash cameras and body cameras for deputies at the time of the report. If there had been video evidence available a trial might have been avoided. The Deputy was found not guilty by a jury of his peers after approximately 4 hours of deliberations.

Both of these cases provide an opportunity to present valid arguments from both sides of the law to show the benefits of dash cams and body cams. Transparency by any civil servants is a reasonable expectation of the community. Accountability is important to promote justice because law enforcement officers must protect and serve. Part of protecting and serving is holding all individuals, no matter their position, accountable to the law. A greater risk potentially exists by avoiding accountability in these types of situations.

In approximately 7 minutes, Kelly Jo’s life was forever changed after the news of her son’s passing. We have to believe that at the very least something can be learned from this unfortunate situation, providing constructive criticism, and discussions regarding incidents like this are the only way we can learn and do better as a community. We would all like to believe that all law enforcement officers are in their positions because they want to make their community a better place, a safer place. We want to believe that the number of good officers in our community far outweighs the few individuals who do not uphold the promises to the community that they have sworn to as part of their position.

Our local police officers and community should show Joey’s mother that her son, although no longer here, has impacted his community, he brought awareness to flaws in our system. The only way to make that happen is to acknowledge the flaws and actively make changes to ensure that this never happens to another person.