Detroit police officer quietly cleared in woman's 2012 shooting death during backyard party

2/9/2014

DETROIT — A Detroit police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a woman who was dancing during a party in his backyard.

Two probes were conducted after 24-year-old Adaisha Miller was shot July 8, 2012 at officer Isaac Parrish’s northwest Detroit home, according to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.

“After (Detroit police) did an investigation our office was presented with paperwork on this and we conducted an independent investigation and found insufficient evidence to charge the officer,” spokeswoman Maria Miller told The Associated Press in an email.

The prosecutor’s office received the case on Dec. 11, 2012, and denied pressing charges on Feb. 22, 2013, Maria Miller said.

Adaisha Miller was celebrating the weekend before her 25th birthday and was invited to a fish fry by friends who knew the officer, her mother, Yolanda McNair, said after the shooting.

Police said then that Miller “embraced” Parrish from behind while dancing. Parrish, now 40, was wearing his police-issued handgun on his waist, and it fired striking Miller once. The slug punctured Miller’s lung and hit her heart. She died at a hospital.

Parrish temporarily was assigned to desk duty while the shooting was investigated.

“He never was suspended ... never officially taken off duty,” Deputy Police Chief Rodney Johnson told The AP Wednesday.

Detroit’s law department has no record of litigation against the city tied to Miller’s death, other than a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the family’s lawyer for documents tied to the investigation, according to Ellen Ha, senior assistant corporation counsel in Detroit’s Government Affairs Section.

Gerald Thurswell, a Southfield attorney who represented Miller’s family, could not be reached last week for comment.

The AP left a message seeking comment at Parrish’s home.