Undersheriff responds to communications concerns

BELLAIRE – During last week's March 21 Antrim County Health and Public Safety committee meeting, Undersheriff Dean Pratt, in a prepared statement, responded to criticism regarding his lack of public communication during the March 10 manhunt for a man accused of shooting two Chestonia Township residents.

Concern for their own personal safety led residents in the area to flood Antrim County's 911 Central Dispatch with 277 phone calls asking for information after initially learning of the situation on social media from residents listening to police scanners. 

The investigation into the shootings of Daniel Sutherland and a 15-year-old juvenile – and the subsequent manhunt, which ended with the suspect surrendering in Kalkaska County around 1 a.m. March 11 – was under the direction of Pratt. He and the Antrim County Sheriff’s Office were assisted by the Michigan State Police and several other law enforcement agencies, as well as area fire departments and EMS.

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