On Detroit's west side, on July 8, 2012, 24-year-old Adaisha Miller attended a Saturday night fish fry hosted by Isaac Parrish and his wife. Miller, a certified massage therapist, came to the backyard party with a friend acquainted with the 38-year-old Detroit police officer who was throwing the event. Isaac Parish, a beat patrolman for 16 years, did not know Miller before the party.
That night Officer Parrish carried his department issued Smith & Wesson M & P 40 semiautomatic pistol on his right side in a soft holster tucked inside his waistband covered by his shirt. In Detroit, officers have the option of carrying their firearms when off-duty. They were not, however, supposed to be armed if their blood-alcohol level was 0.02 percent or above. (In Michigan, the blood-alcohol threshold for a DUI conviction is 0.08 percent.) In essence, Detroit officers are prohibited from carrying their handguns if they consume alcohol, period.
Thirty minutes after midnight on the night of the party, Adaisha Miller, while either hugging the officer, dancing with him side-by-side or dancing on her knees behind him, touched or tugged at his waist in a way that caused his firearm to discharge. The gun not only went off, the bullet entered Miller's chest, pierced a lung, hit her heart and exited her lower back. She died later that day at a local hospital.
According to Dr. Carl Schmidt, the Wayne County Medical Examiner, the path of the bullet through Miller's body did not reveal the victim's position relative to the gun's muzzle (end of the barrel) which was pointed toward the ground. Because the Smith & Wesson M & P 40 is designed for police and military use, it does not have a safety switch. However, the trigger must be pulled back all the way before the gun will fire.
Months after Adaisha Miller's sudden demise the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office declared her death "accidental."
Officer Parrish following an internal investigation was cleared of wrongdoing. He did not undergo a blood-alcohol test.
Because it was hard to construct a scenario that explained exactly how this accident occurred, Adaisha's death remained a mystery. Less than 24 hours after her death a lawyer surfaced in the case talking about a potential lawsuit against the Detroit Police Department. Attorney Gerald Thurswell, in speaking to a local reporter, said, "We believe 100 percent that this death was caused as a result of a negligent act of somebody. If somebody was negligent then someone's responsible for the injuries and death caused as a result of their negligent act." The lawyer hired a private investigator to look into the shooting.
In February 2017 Adaisha Miller's mother, Yolanda McNair, participated in a demonstration outside the Detroit courthouse. The protesters were mothers of children who had been killed by Detroit police officers. McNair told a reporter that in her opinion justice had not been done in the case of her daughter's death.
That night Officer Parrish carried his department issued Smith & Wesson M & P 40 semiautomatic pistol on his right side in a soft holster tucked inside his waistband covered by his shirt. In Detroit, officers have the option of carrying their firearms when off-duty. They were not, however, supposed to be armed if their blood-alcohol level was 0.02 percent or above. (In Michigan, the blood-alcohol threshold for a DUI conviction is 0.08 percent.) In essence, Detroit officers are prohibited from carrying their handguns if they consume alcohol, period.
Thirty minutes after midnight on the night of the party, Adaisha Miller, while either hugging the officer, dancing with him side-by-side or dancing on her knees behind him, touched or tugged at his waist in a way that caused his firearm to discharge. The gun not only went off, the bullet entered Miller's chest, pierced a lung, hit her heart and exited her lower back. She died later that day at a local hospital.
According to Dr. Carl Schmidt, the Wayne County Medical Examiner, the path of the bullet through Miller's body did not reveal the victim's position relative to the gun's muzzle (end of the barrel) which was pointed toward the ground. Because the Smith & Wesson M & P 40 is designed for police and military use, it does not have a safety switch. However, the trigger must be pulled back all the way before the gun will fire.
Months after Adaisha Miller's sudden demise the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office declared her death "accidental."
Officer Parrish following an internal investigation was cleared of wrongdoing. He did not undergo a blood-alcohol test.
Because it was hard to construct a scenario that explained exactly how this accident occurred, Adaisha's death remained a mystery. Less than 24 hours after her death a lawyer surfaced in the case talking about a potential lawsuit against the Detroit Police Department. Attorney Gerald Thurswell, in speaking to a local reporter, said, "We believe 100 percent that this death was caused as a result of a negligent act of somebody. If somebody was negligent then someone's responsible for the injuries and death caused as a result of their negligent act." The lawyer hired a private investigator to look into the shooting.
In February 2017 Adaisha Miller's mother, Yolanda McNair, participated in a demonstration outside the Detroit courthouse. The protesters were mothers of children who had been killed by Detroit police officers. McNair told a reporter that in her opinion justice had not been done in the case of her daughter's death.
What a tragedy. Seven months later and still no definitive explanation of exactly how it happened.
ReplyDeleteThe police now say that she was performing an exotic dance and was tugging on his waist. With a soft holster I can see how it would have happened (the trigger being pulled--this is how I carry my own weapon), but there are still many unanswered questions. She was allegedly being intimate with a stranger? In front of his wife and friends? What about GSR? There should be some somewhere, either inside his clothes or on somebody's hands. Was there a bullethole in his clothes? What about the witnesses? She had at least one friend who brought her there. The rest of the people were strangers, and many of them cops themselves. What about their statements? Oh yeah, they're not talking. The absence of her friend's voice makes me wonder what exactly she was doing there. Was she performing? If this story is true, then as a cop he should have performed standard weapon retention techniques if she was clawing at his weapon. Sounds to me like it really could have been an accident, but I predict that this eventually just goes to civil court and finds the officer negligent.
I knew her very well. She was fun loving but very shy when it came to anything sexual. she would never dance for a stranger.
ReplyDeleteNot sure who you are, but this is her Big cousin. These stories are tremendous and head scratching at best. I was first on the scene when the (2) two young ladies who took Adaisha to that party came to tell her mother what actually happened. They said that no one was dancing and Adaisha was being introduced to everyone including the officer, whose party it was. A hug ensued because the girls told everybody that Adaisha was celebrating her birthday. We were told, verbatum, that the music was loud. Dai-Dai was talking with the officer, that they were standing off to the side of them. The girls heard a pop and saw Dai-Dai hit the ground. They said they thought it was a firecracker (with it still being close to the 4th of July). They picked her up and told her to quit playing, then she fell again. Then they heard Adaisha's breathing was labored. The music stopped and everyone panicked then they called 911. However, the police showed up first before the ambulance. They transported her in the squad car where "they" said she died. Now I grew up in the neighborhood of this officer and my friend's brother was the DJ. He told my friend that the off-duty officer was intoxicated. As soon as it happened, he said Parrish kept running in and out of the house drinking water I guess to dilute his alcohol level. I know my childhood friend wouldn't lie to me about that. Further, I got on the news the same day of her death to ask why wasn't this officer's blood alcohol level checked. Why was he allowed to come in the next morning after 9am to give his statement? From 12 midnight to 9am the next morning is ample time to dilute your system of alcohol. We, as her family have many unanswered questions. And we never believed the news report about her dancing in an exotic way! The story (in the news) changed 3 times. That's why an attorney was called.
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