Nah, I know you don't really have to guess what color the victim is or what color the officers involved are.
Floyd Dent, of Detroit, was pulled over in Inkster Michigan in January, dragged from his car by one of the white police officers, then put in a choke hold, beaten, and was tasered. The police video, no audio, shows Dent pulling over and cracking his door. One officer, identified as William Melendez, moves in, and yanks Dent from the car, shoving him to the ground, and placing his arm around his neck. There appeared to be no resistance from Dent to prompt this choke hold.
Melendez then begins to punch Dent in the head over and over. And over. Really, the video is sickening. You can see Dent attempting to protect his face with one of his arms, to no avail. Dent says one of the officers told the other to 'tase the M...F.'
Dent told his story today, tears trickling down his face. Here's a man with no criminal history, pulled over and beaten by police for no reason. When other officers, around five to seven more, arrive on scene, Dent is then kicked by one officer and Tased twice by another. Dent spent two days in the hospital with head and face injuries and now has nightmares from his experience.
According to the Detroit Free Press:
Police initially charged him with assault, resisting arrest, and possession of cocaine, insisting they found cocaine beneath the passenger seat of his Cadillac. Dent says police planted the drugs at the time of his arrest.
The assault and resisting arrest charges were both dropped after a judge saw the tape. Dent's lawyer, Gregory Rohl, says portions of the tape not released show police planting the cocaine.
Rohl also said that, although Police Chief Vicki Yost assured him she would look into the incident shortly after it happened, an investigator still has not been assigned. Still. It's been two months.
Detroit News over the incident took place Wednesday in the Detroit area, with more to surely follow. Maybe a Ferguson-type review needs to take place at the Inkster Police Department, too.
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