Body cam released after injured Burton cop was accidentally shot by fellow officer
By: One of two police officers injured during a shootout while chasing a suspect through a Burton neighbor was accidentally wounded by gunfire from another police officer and not the armed suspect, according to police reports and body camera video.
Genesee County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Fachting was critically wounded when he was shot twice by Brendan Patrick Pinkston, a suspect Fachting and other officers chased through a neighbor in Burton in December 2021.
Burton Police Officer Dalton Christie was also seriously wounded when he was shot several times during the pursuit.
Reports and video from the incident obtained by MLive/The Flint Journal through a Freedom of Information Act request show Christie’s wounds were the result of bullets fired by another Burton police officer.
“Officer Monroe fired his long gun at what he thought was the suspect who shot Deputy Fachting,” a Genesee County Sheriff’s report reads. “Officer Monroe’s rounds struck Officer Christie, causing injuries to his lower extremities.”
Related: Police investigate officer-involved shooting in Burton
The police reports and body camera video only recently became available after authorities concluded their investigation into the shooting in late 2022.
Information from police originally said officers responded to the area of Saginaw Street and Bristol Road in Burton on the afternoon of Dec. 21, 2021.
When the officers arrived at the scene, they spotted Pinkston who ran away from them. While officers chased Pinkston, he attempted to get away from them while climbing a fence.
That fence collapsed on top of Pinkston, pinning him to the ground.
According to what police presented at the time, Christie and Fachting were pulling the fence off the suspect when he opened fire. The officer and deputy returned fire, and Pinkston was shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A police report authored by Capt. Jason Murphy of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office reviewing the fatal shooting of the suspect – which was listed as justifiable homicide – breaks down the situation in more detail, shedding light on what happened in the moments before and after Pinkston was killed.
Genesee County Central Dispatch received a 911 call reporting a white male wearing gray pants and a white shirt had shot a pistol at a house behind the caller’s home.
Fachting, Christie and two other Burton police officers, Cody Monroe, and Farah Glasstetter, responded to the call.
When the officers arrived at the scene, they approached the house in the 2100 block of Bristol Road.
As they walked toward the house, a banging sound can be heard on body camera video from the officers. Then, the officers are alerted by an alarm sound indicating someone was breaking into the home.
According to the sheriff’s office report, Fachting and Monroe chased after Pinkston, who climbed a fence into the backyard of a neighboring home. Fachting found Pinkston in the yard of a Connell Street home, beneath a section of a wooden privacy fence that had fallen on top of him.
When Fachting lifted the fence, Pinkston immediately pointed a handgun at him, firing twice. Fachting returned fire, discharging five rounds from his service weapon. Pinkston was struck by the gunfire and died at the scene.
Fachting was critically injured. He had been shot twice – once above his vest, a shot that entered his chest and exited the right side of his body, and a second time in his magazine pouch.
The second shot penetrated the leather on the magazine pouch, struck the loaded magazine causing damage, then exited the opposite end of the magazine pouch and struck Fachting’s leather duty belt.