Who’s Who: Joey Nagle
Joey and His Family
Shot once in the chest by an Allegan County Sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop on Whitmore Lake Road area of Monterey Township on June 16, 2022, at approximately 22:14. The autopsy classified his death a homicide, a medical term describing death caused by another person, not a determination of criminal guilt. Toxicology confirmed THC in his blood; a cocaine finding was only a presumptive, unconfirmed urine screen. No charges were ever filed against the deputy who shot him.
Told reporters in September 2022 that the family intended to seek Michigan Attorney General review after Prosecutor Myrene Koch declined to file charges. Requested the return of Joey’s phone from MSP on July 26, 2022; no record of its return to the family appears in the released packet.
Investigators: MSP and Allegan County
Michigan State Police detective sergeant who jointly conducted the interrogations, alongside Sgt. Bryan Fuller, that produced Ray McCann’s wrongful 2014 perjury conviction in the Jodi Parrack cold case. McCann sued Fuller, Criger, and other MSP investigators in federal court in December 2019; the case was active for three and a half years, spanning the entire period Criger led the investigation into Joey’s death starting June 16, 2022.
Criger’s investigative choices in Joey’s file are documented at length: he pursued and discussed selected material from Joey’s phone concerning fighting and drug use, acknowledged he did not personally examine every part of the phone extraction, and did not resolve the wrong LEIN plate query or the missing verification transactions in his report to the prosecutor. As of Clutch Justice’s 2026 reporting, Criger remains an MSP employee.
Fired the shot that killed Joey. Remains unnamed in all materials MSP and Allegan County have released, which prevents a reliable officer-specific review of his background and disciplinary history. His own account describes 15 to 20 punches and 3 to 5 headbutts inside a 55-second radio window, blurred vision, and weakening legs. He was not carrying an activated body or dash camera; Allegan County had not equipped patrol deputies with either at the time.
His statement, provided through attorney Mike Woronko, does not describe removing Joey’s glasses before administering the HGN eye-movement sobriety test, as NHTSA procedure requires. No drug or alcohol toxicology result for the deputy appears anywhere in the released materials, despite a hospital record noting a legal blood draw was arranged for him. His Taser was not deployed.
Signed the July 25, 2022 postmortem report classifying Joey’s death a homicide: gunshot wound of the chest, wound path front to back, slightly right to left, and downward, with stippling but no muzzle imprint or soot. Documented scattered abrasions on Joey’s arms and hand, and faint knuckle contusions, findings that are consistent with a raised or blocking arm as much as with punching.
Petersen seized Joey’s phone from the dashboard as property item 23. Hayward arrived at 23:36 on the night of the shooting. Spoelma’s report identifies Joey through a driver’s license found face-down on the roadway, without documenting who read it, whether it was lifted, or when its photographed position was established. None of the three was on scene before the shot was fired, per the response chronology in the released record.
Redacted in the MSP supplement but identified by Clutch Justice through LinkedIn and Kent County staffing records. Relayed what Wilderness Expressions shop workers told him about Joey’s behavior. By his own admission a regular customer at the shop, making his referral secondhand hearsay rather than firsthand witness testimony, though the shop workers were separately interviewed.
Named in the 57th District Court register as the citing officer in Katherine Lindsey Henry’s prosecution, dismissed with prejudice on July 7, 2022, 21 days after Joey’s shooting. A 2016 Wayback Machine snapshot of Allegan County’s contracted-patrols page names Langlois and Bernard Austhof as the two deputies covering the Leighton/Dorr contract, the same assignment the deputy who shot Joey identifies in his own statement. This is a documented connection, not proof that Langlois was the shooter.
Named alongside Langlois on the 2016 Leighton/Dorr contract-patrols snapshot. Documented as hearing the “shot fired” radio transmission and CPR reports while en route, arriving at 22:21:15, after the shooting occurred. The record’s response chronology excludes him as the shooter.
The Pattern: Prior Conduct Bearing on Credibility
Led the 2011 reopening of the Jodi Parrack cold case and, with Criger, arranged for Ray McCann to testify under oath about his whereabouts, then used surveillance video to claim his account was false while separately telling McCann his DNA matched the killer. It had not. A federal jury awarded McCann $14.5 million in September 2023. On the stand, Fuller acknowledged lying to witnesses and called it “not the preferred method but not improper either.” MSP settled with McCann for $11 million in 2024. Fuller remained an MSP employee as of that reporting. No record establishes Fuller’s presence at Joey’s shooting; he is not listed as an on-scene officer.
A reserve Constantine police officer who joined the 2007 search for 11-year-old Jodi Parrack and suggested searchers check the cemetery, where her body was found, turning him from searcher to suspect. Fuller and Criger built a case against him entirely on interrogation, with no forensic evidence tying him to the murder. He denied involvement 86 times across 20 interrogations before pleading no contest to five counts of perjury in 2014 and serving 20 months. The real killer, Daniel Furlong, was arrested and confessed after McCann was already in prison; Furlong’s DNA matched the profile recovered from Parrack’s body. McCann’s conviction was vacated in December 2017.
Represented Fuller and the other named MSP investigators, including Criger, throughout the four-year McCann litigation at public expense, arguing at trial that the detectives followed proper process. The jury rejected that defense by $14.5 million. The Attorney General’s Office that employed Donnelly’s defense of Criger is the same office that later declined, without disclosing the conflict, to review Joey’s case at the family’s request.
Prosecutors and Officials
Received the complete MSP investigative packet, built by Criger, on August 12, 2022. Her September 16, 2022 memorandum declining to file charges addresses the stop, force, injuries, Taser, and use-of-force policy, but does not address the wrong-plate LEIN query, the missing verification transactions, or the neighbor’s witness account of shouting and a gunshot. The memo lists cocaine alongside THC in Joey’s system without distinguishing the confirmed blood finding from the unconfirmed, lab-flagged presumptive urine screen.
Attorneys
Notified MSP on June 20, 2022 that his firm represented Joey’s family and estate. Submitted a witness interview and Facebook screenshots, including the recorded account of a neighbor who heard someone shout “no” three times before a gunshot. Koch’s declination memorandum does not mention this witness or his account. Clutch Justice’s separate reporting on Siver’s broader conduct toward the family is referenced in the reading list.
Identified in the MSP report as the attorney who provided the deputy’s four-page written statement, dated June 21, 2022, and later-supplied medical records.