The violent arrest of an African-American motorist by two white police officers in Inkster, Michigan, was caught on video and shows police brutally beating a man who claimed he did nothing wrong.
The Michigan State Police officers said they pulled over 57-year-old Floyd Dent for violating a traffic violation in January. The dashcam video, which was obtained by WDIV and released on Tuesday, shows Dent opening the door to his car only to be met by an officer who withdrew his gun and aimed it directly at him. Officers dragged Dent out of the vehicle, forced him face down to the ground and proceeded to place him in a chokehold.
“I’m lucky to be living. I think they was trying to kill me, especially when they had choked me,” Dent told WDIV. “I mean, I was on my last breath. I kept telling the officer, ‘Please, I can’t breathe.’”
According to police reports obtained by the TV station, the primary officer served 16 punches to Dent’s head, leaving his face bloody and body bruised. More officers arrived to the scene and attempted to place Dent in handcuffs. The video shows Dent attempting to cover his face to lessen the impact of the punches, while one officer uses a stun gun on him three times and a third tries to place him in handcuffs.
Police said they pulled Dent over for failing to make a complete halt at a stop sign, and later followed his Cadillac down the street through one of the state’s predominantly black neighborhoods.
Dent, who was unarmed and has no criminal record, said he was not intentionally trying to get away, and video shows him driving at the same speed while cops followed behind him. Dent said he did not immediately stop because he was unaware he did anything wrong -- and he has maintained the same argument.
“When the overhead lights came on, I looked and said, ‘Wow, are they stopping me?’" Dent said. “So I just kept going until I realized that they were really stopping me.”
“The next thing I know, the officer runs up to me with his gun, you know, talking about blowing my head off," Dent continued. "Then he grabbed me out of the car and started beating on me, you know. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Dent said he had his hands out after opening his car door. Officers said they did not see both hands and claim Dent yelled, “I’ll kill you.” However, there is no recorded audio from the incident, WDIV reported.
“You have six responding vehicles. Not one officer is equipped with a microphone to take down this alleged threat,” Dent’s attorney, Greg Rohl, told the local news station.
The primary officer claimed he was protecting himself, according to WDIV. Officers said that Dent, who later said he feared he would die as a result of the chokehold, resisted arrest and bit the officer in the arm, which resulted in the series of significant blows to Dent's head. However, no photographs are available of the alleged bite marks and the officer did not seek medical attention, WDIV reported.
The incident led to a protest of around 50 demonstrators who rallied outside of the Detroit-area police department on Wednesday to speak out against this case of police brutality. The protest was led by the Rev. Charles Williams II, who called on officials to fire the officers involved.
"We will shut Inkster down until we get justice," Williams said, according to The Associated Press.
Inkster Police Chief Vicki Yost addressed the crowd Wednesday and said the state police department is conducting an investigation into the case.
"I understand your concern," Yost told Williams, according to the AP. "Again, we're going to let the investigation play out ... We're going to act accordingly. We're not hiding from this."
