Should cops have used a helicopter to search for man fleeing casino? (From the comments)

Tanda Gmiter | By Tanda Gmiter | The Grand Rapids Press
on November 21, 2011 at 3:03 PM, updated November 21, 2011 at 3:27 PM

WAYLAND -- Some Mlive commenters seem incredulous that police on Friday used a Michigan State Police helicopter to help search for a drunken and disorderly man who clashed with security at the Gun Lake Casino, then fled into the woods when police arrived.

Anonymous wrote: "Talk about a misallocation of resources. Are the police so desperate to nab some unruley casino patrons? If they would have left enough alone the men would have come back in when they were cold enough. Use some common sense!"

And we also heard from michigan-pride: "The tab for the helicopter better be showing up on this guy's bill at his sentencing, hopefully the press can follow what his punishment ends up as."

Police say several factors led them to launch the helicopter in search of the suspect, and all of them were tied to the suspect's welfare:

While two men initially fled the casino and could be heard by police crashing through the woods, an Allegan County K-9 team did locate one man about two hours after the 7:45 p.m. incident began. That man said he'd lost contact with the other man -- his brother -- and that his brother had lost a shoe and cell phone during their run into the woods.

Given that police were unable to locate the second man, and that they knew he was wearing light clothing, was reportedly intoxicated and had lost a shoe, police took into account the cold weather and decided to request the helicopter began searching for the missing man.

The man later made his way out onto a nearby road, where he was taken into custody about 12:15 a.m. Saturday.

Both brothers, from Holland, were jailed and have been released on bond.