John Joseph Sutherland, 36, East Jordan, was sentenced to 20 to 48 months in prison for assaulting, resisting and obstructing police officers.

Sutherland pleaded guilty on January 4, 2021 to two counts of resisting and obstructing and being a habitual offender, third.

The incident occurred, according to the court file, in the parking lot of the McDonald’s restaurant in Boyne City where the Michigan State Police fugitive team had lured Sutherland for arrest on outstanding warrants.

When Sutherland realized the people who he was meeting were police officers, he ran and struggled with them as they attended to place him under arrest. Officers unsuccessfully attempted to tase him but Sutherland continued to resist.

Officers finally got Sutherland to the ground but in the struggle, one of the officers’ guns came out of his waistband. Sutherland laid face down with his hands beneath him and refused to remove them. Officers were fearful that the gun was under him and after he was eventually subdued, the gun was found underneath Sutherland.

“This was a dangerous situation for police officers who were only doing their job,” Charlevoix County Prosecuting Attorney Allen Telgenhof said.

Sutherland had previously been convicted of three felonies and ten misdemeanors.