A suburban Detroit police officer, who was seen on dash-cam video dragging a black man from his car before kicking and punching him repeatedly, will be charged with two felony counts, a county prosecutor said Monday.
A remaining drug possession charge against the man, Floyd Dent, 57, will be dropped, Wayne County Prosecutor, Kym Worthy, said.
Dent’s treatment by Inkster police, during a January 28 traffic stop, sparked outrage after the video was released by NBC affiliate WDIV.
William Melendez, who allegedly punched Dent 16 times while keeping him in a chokehold during an arrest, will be charged with one count of mistreatment of a prisoner and one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, Worthy said.
WDIV had also later released a video that showed officers stripping Dent down to his underwear and searching him while he was being held in jail.
If convicted, Melendez could face up to 15 years in prison.
The case was independently investigated by the Michigan State Police and separately by the Wayne County Prosecutors Office.
“We cannot turn our heads when the law enforcer becomes the law breaker,” Worthy said during a news conference on Monday.
“The alleged police brutality in this case cannot and will not be tolerated.”
Charges against Dent of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer were dropped after the video was released nearly two months after the incident occurred.
A count of possession of cocaine remained, but Dent claimed the drugs were planted in his car, and Worthy said her office would reconsider the charges after Dent passed a lie detector test.
The drug charge against Dent was dropped “in the best interest of justice,” Worthy said
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