Sheriff: No proof Yonkers was on duty

HASTINGS, Mich. (WOOD) - Days after the funeral of Barry County Deputy Christopher Yonkers, Sheriff Dar Leaf heard the undercover drug officer was with a woman in the minutes before his death, the sheriff told 24 Hour News 8 on Friday.

But his department -- while trying to determine if Yonkers was on or off duty -- has not interviewed the woman, he acknowledged.

Undersheriff Bob Baker said the woman was not critical to determining what happened the night Yonkers died in a motorcycle crash -- or whether Yonkers was on duty.

"We've heard that story," Baker said. "It doesn't have anything to do with it."

Leaf and Baker now say the department months ago found there was no way to substantiate Yonkers was on duty. They have reported that finding to agencies that deal with on-duty deaths, but had not made it public, they said.

"We have said (to those agencies) that he was not on duty," the undersheriff said.

"We cannot show Deputy Yonkers was on duty," Leaf said on Friday. "We cannot show that."

However, even last week, Leaf left open the possibility that Yonkers was on duty. He said he had given Yonkers permission to work on cases in Barry County, outside his duties on the Southwest Enforcement Team (SWET).

"If there was something up here that we felt needed to be handled, or he felt needed to be handled, he was given the go-ahead to start working on it, "Leaf told 24 Hour News 8 on Aug. 28.

There is much at stake. A magistrate is to determine in a worker's compensation hearing whether Yonkers was on duty. That hearing is set for Nov. 10 in Grand Rapids.

If the magistrate rules he was working, the family could be eligible not only for workers' compensation but for $315,000 in federal death benefits. He could also get his name on walls honoring fallen officers in Washington, D.C., and in Michigan, sheriff's officials say.

Yonkers, 43, of Hastings, was driving his motorcycle west on M-43 near Usborne Road, north of Hastings, about 9:45 p.m. on Oct. 17 when a car turned left in front of him, police said.

The driver, Justin Malik, 25, of Hastings, faces charges of operating while impaired causing death and driving on a suspended license causing death -- both 15-year felonies.

A source close to the investigation told 24 Hour News 8 that Yonkers died within minutes of parting ways with a woman. That woman, a volunteer firefighter, heard the report of the motorcycle accident on her vehicle's scanner, the source said.

The woman, according to the source, was the first at the scene of the crash -- eight miles from where they had gone their separate ways -- and tried to save his life. The source says the woman also took a cell phone from the scene that the woman had used to stay in touch with Yonkers. Sheriff's officials say they were unaware of the phone.

In the days after the crash, police reported Yonkers was off duty. Several days later, just before the funeral, it was Leaf who sent out a press release calling it an "on-duty" death.

The sheriff said he based that on several things: Yonkers had told his daughter he was leaving that night to check a drug dealer's garbage for evidence -- a so-called trash pull; and an informant called the sheriff after the death to say he had recently given Yonkers a tip about drugs in the area.

"Putting everything together, it sounded like a pretty easy determination," Leaf said on Friday. "We had a phone call from one of his informants, and he was upset thinking he got killed checking into a tip that he got."

Also, he had the reports by state police troopers suggesting Yonkers -- a married father of five and an undercover officer -- was on duty with the state-run Southwest Enforcement Team.

Trooper Phillip McNabnay and Sgt. James Richardson -- both then members of SWET -- were disciplined over the reports. McNabnay was reprimanded; Richardson was demoted.

McNabnay was trying to get death benefits for the family, state police have said in a report.

Then, last month, state police supervisors issued a report saying Yonkers was off duty.

Leaf says by the time he heard the report about the woman, Yonkers had been honored as on officer killed in the line of duty.

The sheriff and undersheriff say their department has since turned down requests to have Yonkers' name put on walls for fallen officers in Washington, D.C., and in eastern Michigan.

The department, he said, also told the family and the Thin Blue Line it couldn't support the quest to get federal funds and workers' compensation funding.

"There's been no monies filed for, there's been no fraud or cover-up or anything else," Baker said. "As far as our position is, what he did in his personal time is his business."