Fifty-seven-year-old Floyd Dent was pulled over recently by local police in Inkster, Michigan. After Dent opened his door, the police cruiser dash cam captured what many are calling a blatant display of brutality.
According to Local 4 Detroit, Dent said:
“The next thing I know, the officer runs up to me with his gun, you know, talking about blowing my head off,” Dent said. “Then he grabbed me out of the car and started beating on me, you know. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Image credit: Screenshot
The video showed the officers pulling Dent out of his vehicle and placing him in a chokehold on the ground. Once Dent started struggling to loosen the officer’s grip, the officer delivered sixteen blows to his head as well as several hits from a fellow officer’s taser. Dent continued:
“I’m lucky to be living. I think they was trying to kill me, especially when they had choked me. I mean, I was on my last breath. I kept telling the officer, ‘Please, I can’t breathe,’” Dent said.
One of the officers claims that Dent had shouted “I’ll kill you.” However, no microphones recorded the dialogue at the beginning stages of the arrest.
After the altercation, the officers found that Dent had been driving with a suspended license and reported that they found a bag of crack cocaine under the passenger seat of the car.
Image credit: Screenshot
Allegedly, one officers in the video was previously investigated in 2003 for planting evidence as well as falsifying reports, which is now being called back into question. That officer was found not guilty by a jury in that case.
Once word of the brutal beating spread, people took to Twitter to voice their opinions:
Fire every cop who helped beat #FloydDent and jail the self-proclaimed #Robocop. Delivering justice here is no heavy lift. Do it. #lastword
— Governor Oopsies (@GovernorOopsies) March 27, 2015
It's hard to quit resisting when you're getting pummeled by ten "peace officers" #floyddent
— Chris Copeland (@QuinoaTheSuperG) March 25, 2015
16 blows to the head, 3 taser blasts, and a kick to the arm were "necessary" to protect 10 police officers!??!? #FloydDent
— Kyle (@BasedKvle) March 25, 2015
Some felt that incidents like this tarnish the reputation of policemen do good work in their communities:
I feel sad for all the good police officers out there who do protect and abide by the laws. Bad cops make it hard for them too. #FloydDent
— Karyn Haley (@pluviaaequitas) March 27, 2015
Dent’s charge of resisting officers has been dropped pending an investigation into the Inkster Police Department, but a charge for drug possession remains. He was offered a plea deal, which he turned down.
Dent claims that the drugs were planted in his car by one of the officers. According to Dent’s lawyer, Gregory Rohl, the dash cam video might also prove that was the case.
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