Group Alleges Cops Videotaped Prisoner Ordered To Make Monkey Sounds
DETROIT (WWJ) - A community action group is calling on the Grosse Pointe Park Police Department to suspend officers involved in the alleged abuse of a minority prisoner.
Members of the "Change Agent Consortium" are asking for the immediate suspension of officers who they say videotaped an African-American man as he was ordered to make "monkey sounds."
"It's an abuse of power, it's disgusting, it reeks of racism," said the group's David Bullock, who serves as pastor at Detroit's Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church.
"It seems to be an African-American man with some mental challenge," Bullock told WWJ's Pat Sweeting. "So you have another layer of abusing someone who has a mental disability."
Another video reportedly making the rounds shows a black man riding in the back of an open trailer, used for landscaping equipment —with what the group says is an offensive caption.
"You combine those images: African-American man making monkey noises, and then another video that says, 'You gotta love the coloreds' — law enforcement in Grosse Pointe Park obviously has some explaining to do," Bullock said.
In a statement out earlier this week, the Grosse Pointe Park Police Department said it's conducting an internal investigation of the matter and that it does not tolerate unprofessional conduct by its officers when interacting with any citizen.
WWJ Newsradio 950 has a call out to the department for further comment. The videos in question have not been made available to WWJ.
