Police Officers Caught On Video Hitting, Kicking, Handcuffed Suspect In Detroit
DETROIT (WWJ) - The Wayne County Prosecutor has called for an independent investigation after a profanity-laden police beating was caught on camera.
The nine-minute video clip, which appears to show two plain clothes officers hitting and kicking a handcuffed suspect on the ground, had been shared more than 7,000 times on Facebook as of Tuesday afternoon.
The video — recorded by a Detroit woman on her phone Monday, Jan. 12 — shows a black male prisoner lying with his face in the snow while two white officers appear to hit him on the head and kick him while they taunt him, shouting expletives.
[Watch the video HERE >>Note: Extremely Strong Language]
"What'd you say? Jesus? You're calling Jesus?" an officer, at one point, asks the man. "You f—er! Don't you dare; don't you f—ing dare."
The video was shot from inside a home in the area of Plainview and Pickford, south of 7 Mile Road.
"This man is handcuffed and the police is beating him while his hands is cuffed behind him... They were kicking him and pistol-whipping him," the woman said, narrating as she records the action talking place out on the sidewalk.
"They just found a pistol on this guy.... They just took the clip out, and I guess he shot at them or something, I don't know," she said.
Although a Detroit police vehicle is seen in the video, the officers involved are not Detroit cops, but Grosse Pointe Park police officers assigned to ACTION — a multi-jurisdictional stolen car task force also including officers from Detroit, Harper Woods and Highland Park.
That's according to a statement sent by Grosse Pointe Park Police Chief David Hiller declaring the officers' actions were "proper."
The statement — which, at the bottom, lists the names of the police chiefs for the four communities — alleges that the suspect seen in the video was a parole absconder who'd carjacked a woman and her two children earlier that day.
"The officers in this case arrested an extremely dangerous wanted felon who was armed with a hand gun," the statement reads. "Due to the totality of the circumstances we believe the actions of the officers in affecting the arrest proper."
According to the statement, when the suspect resisted arrest, one of the officers deployed a Taser — but it didn't work due to suspect's heavy clothing.
"The subject continued to reach for the area of his waist band and refused all orders to show his hands. He curled up in a ball and his right hand again went under his clothing. Fearing for their safety and those in the immediate area, an officer delivered a kick to the thigh area of the subject thus allowing the other officers the ability to arrest the subject. Located in his waist band was a loaded semi-automatic handgun."
Police will continue to review the incident, the statement reads, "should additional information develop." [Read the complete statement].
After watching the video of the incident, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan reached out to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy who asked that the matter be handled by an independent investigation by the Michigan State Police.
Worthy said she'll actively monitor the investigation.
Meantime, does Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who says he's seen the video, believe the officers behaved appropriately?
"Well, it's worthy of an investigation," Craig told WWJ's Marie Osborne. "Certainly, I'm always concerned when we see a force incident...and, again, it requires an investigation — it appears the suspect was not offering any resistance at that point."
"But, again," Craig added, "it's hard to say."
In a news release, Ron Scott, with the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, condemned the officers' actions as well as the statement released by Hiller.
"It is our contention that the officers' actions, once the suspect was handcuffed, were not justified, and that the biased statements that were made reflect a pattern and practice which has gone on in Grosse Pointe Park for quite some time. These kinds of task forces should be investigated to consider suspension of federal funds until civil and human rights issues in these matters are resolved," Scott said.
"We are requesting that U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, and the U.S. Justice Department nationally, intervene in this matter. We are also asking that Congressman John Conyers, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, investigate this matter. Finally, we intend to mobilize the community to deal with this matter."
The suspect's name was not immediately released.
