Public commenters at the Jan. 20, 2026, Ypsilanti City Council meeting spoke out against the police response to an incident in which a man barricaded himself inside a West Cross Street residence. Officials say the man was experiencing a mental health crisis.
Public participation filled the 45 minutes allotted for comment at the meeting, which was held in Eastern Michigan University's Student Center ballroom instead of City Hall. The meeting was moved to EMU to accommodate the expected increased capacity, Mayor Nicole Brown said.
Originally slated as a resolution for council members to vote on, the council moved to change an agenda item about the incident to a discussion item.
Ward 3 resident and public commenter Lilliana Blair urged council members to vote on the resolution tonight, voicing their support for the resolution.
On Jan. 4, 2026, police officers, including Washtenaw County Crisis Negotiators and Washtenaw Metro SWAT, responded to a man who barricaded himself inside a residence on West Cross Street, stated a Jan. 5 post from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. Police said when they first responded, the man, 53, had a sword and confronted officers. The man then barricaded himself in the house. The incident was ongoing for more than 30 hours.
“After over 30-hours of crisis negotiation, the armed 53-year-old man who had barricaded himself in the upper levels of a house in the City of Ypsilanti has been safely taken into custody,” stated the Jan. 5 post from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. “This matter remains an on-going investigation. We are unable to comment further at this time.”
Mayor Brown addressed the incident before public comment began.
"I know the situation was frightening; it was disruptive and harmful to Ruben, the person directly involved," Brown said. "When something like this happens, it affects more than the immediate people in the area. It shakes our sense of safety, trust and confidence in the systems meant to protect us. So, since this incident, I've been in direct communication with our police department's leadership, the sheriff's office and other responding agencies to better understand the decisions that were made and the sequence of the events."
Residents speak out
Ypsilanti residents filled the meeting room, some raising signs of support for Ruben, the man who barricaded himself. Many commenters criticized tactics used during the incident.
“Recently, my tuition dollars were used to assist in the torture of a 53-year-old man named Ruben,” said Colton Ray, a public commenter at the council meeting. Ray is a graduate student at Eastern Michigan University. “Both EMU police and Livingston County police forces, among others, partook in the siege.”
Resident Greg Woodring, who lives six doors down from the house the incident occurred, called the police response to the barricade a militarized descent into a police state at the city council meeting.
"It may not be the same, but it certainly rhymes with what we are seeing across the country," Woodring said.
In a previous interview with The Eastern Echo, Woodring recounted the events of the barricade incident, which he witnessed as a bystander. During the barricade incident, police used tear gas, flash bangs and a long-range acoustic device, a specialized sound weapon used to produce sound at a high pitch, Woodring said.
Police also used a rook, a modified vehicle used by SWAT forces and police, to allow officers to shoot water from a fire hose into the house where the individual was located, Woodring said.
Dale Milliman, a public commenter who lives two doors down from the residence where the incident occurred, spoke of the impact of the two-day event.
"I was one of the people who was not allowed to go back in my house," Milliman said "I had to miss work one day."
Milliman said he had previous interactions with Ruben and spoke against the tactics used by police, calling what happened to Ruben ridiculous and unnecessary.
"I'm standing behind Ruben," he added. "I'm just hoping that it doesn't fall onto deaf ears."
Several commenters urged that charges against Ruben be dropped and demanded accountability from the law enforcement agencies involved.
"If there's no consequences, if there's no accountability, then they will get the message that they can get away with it," said one commenter.
Other commenters recounted their own experiences during the response, claiming they were tackled by police officers while observing the incident. Video recorded by Woodring and reviewed by The Echo showed a physical altercation between police officers and onlookers, with some onlookers pushed to the ground and detained by police.
Council member discussion
During council discussion of the incident, council members voiced support for Ruben, the barricaded man.
"I don't think anybody on this body thinks that that was handled in the correct way, and we are committed to figure out where that went wrong and how we can make this not happen again," said Mayor Pro-Tem Steven Wilcoxen. "In the context of our country at this time — this is just another example. I see the direct line between the escalation of the last year and how this became an acceptable outcome to the people that were making this decision."
Council Member Amber Fellows raised concerns of the normalization of systemic police violence, saying situations like this are too common to simply reform.
“We are at an inflection point, really, a reckoning,” Fellows said. “We’re either going to continue to barrel down the path of 50 years of police state militarization, and add to the barbarism, an absolute cruelty that is accelerating nationally; or, we are going to finally take the steps towards humanity, and embrace the harsh truth that the status quo is not working.”
Council members chose not to vote on the resolution at this meeting, with some members saying they did not have enough information to vote yet. The resolution would have urged County Prosecutor Eli Savit to drop charges. Council Member Roland Tooson said he did not know what Ruben was charged with.
“All the facts are not known by everybody,” said Council Member Me’Chelle King.
City Attorney Randolph Barker said that the incident is an ongoing investigation with limited information publicly available. The incident is currently under investigation by the Michigan State Police, Barker said.
“As a legal adviser, I recognize that there are various issues that this body needs to take into account before making statements,” Barker said. “The frustration is well understood; we share a lot of it."
Barker said the right thing to do for the community is to wait for more information to be available.
Council Member Desirae Simmons said despite criticism of the more than 30 hours for which the incident occurred, she credits the length of time with keeping everyone involved alive.
“The length of time was really a focus on making sure everybody came out alive,” Simmons said. “I really think the time is why everybody is alive.”
A meeting attendee interrupted to push back on this, saying that Ruben was hospitalized due to tactics used. Simmons responded, reaffirming her statement.
“I will 100% lift up being alive,” Simmons said. “He’s not in a grave.”
Simmons also said she did not downplay a sword as a weapon, and also mentioned that calls for more de-escalation training of police need to be specific. She spoke of the need for an unarmed response team, which was named as a priority for 2026 by multiple council members.
During the meeting, Fellows said that Ruben was maimed by tactics used by police. Ruben's condition has not been made public.
Jan. 6 police shooting of unarmed driver
During public comment, residents also raised concerns about an individual who was fatally shot by Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office deputies after fleeing police on Jan. 6, 2026. There was no firearm recovered in the car of a driver, said a Jan. 13 statement from Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer.
Officers on the scene originally reported to dispatch that shots had been fired and that the driver was armed with a shotgun.
"Upon further investigation, it can now be confirmed that there was not a firearm found in the vehicle," Dyer said in the Jan. 13 statement.
The identity of the individual killed has not been made public. The deputies involved were placed on leave and the shooting is currently under investigation by the Michigan State Police, Dyer said.
“I am saddened by any death by police, whether the person is armed or unarmed, whether they committed a crime or did not commit a crime,” Simmons said. “I think it is really smart that the county sheriff did not take on this investigation themselves.”
Council Member Roland Tooson also addressed the incident of the individual killed by police.
“I’m dedicated to gaining more information as to what happened and why it happened,” Tooson said.
