A former Detroit-area police officer has been found guilty in the January beating of an unarmed black man – a case that drew national attention for footage of the incident and comparisons to the 1991 assault of Rodney King in Los Angeles.
The officer, William Melendez, 47, was convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and misconduct in office. He was not found guilty of a third charge, assault by strangulation.
The trial caps a law enforcement career for Melendez that included a litany of accusations in lawsuits and a federal indictment of planting evidence, wrongfully killing civilians, falsifying police reports and conducting illegal arrest. At one point, he received more citizen complaints than any officer in Detroit, where he started his career in 1993 and served until his resignation in 2009. His conduct cost the city of Detroit millions in legal settlements.
But it was video depicting a beating of Floyd Dent during a routine traffic stop in the Detroit suburb of Inkster that brought Melendez his starkest punishment yet, and led to his firing.
The incident didn’t garner significant attention until video depicting the beating during a routine traffic stop was obtained and released in March by a local TV news station – a catalyst for the criminal investigation of Melendez, who’s known by his nickname “RoboCop”. Activists highlighted the rough arrest as one of a number this year that have illuminated a national police brutality problem.
The verdict in the Dent case was handed down by eight women and four men after a two-week trial in Wayne County circuit court in Detroit. Prosecutors and Melendez’s attorney, James Thomas, played the dashcam footage numerous times, and each attempted to use the video to bolster their arguments: To assistant prosecutor Robert Donaldson, it showed Melendez abused the “enormous power” entrusted to law enforcement officials; to Thomas, it showed Dent resisting arrest, therefore justifying the officer’s conduct.
Melendez, who did not testify at the trial and was fired by the Inkster police department soon after the video went public, sat stone-faced as the verdict was announced in a packed courtroom after five hours of the deliberation by the jury. The judge, Vonda Evans, told the courtroom to respect the jury’s decision and not speak out as the verdict was read.
Melendez was remanded to the county jail without bond; he left the courtroom without comment. In a heated moment, Melendez’s wife left the courtroom visibly distraught before Evans called her back. The judge scolded her for leaving as her husband was “dealing with a lot”.
“For you to storm out of this courtroom, like you’re a kid, is unacceptable,” Evans said. Visibly stunned, she returned to her seat.
The officer is scheduled to be sentenced on 3 December by Evans. He faces up to 10 years in prison on the charges.
“Public confidence in law enforcement is eroded when police officers abuse citizens,” said Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy, in a statement following the decision. “The jury’s verdict in this case is important because it shows that police brutality cannot and will not be tolerated.”
Outside the courthouse, Thomas said he was disappointed by the verdict and plans to file an appeal. His client was “very reserved – obviously very sad, you could tell that,” he said.
“Listen, these things aren’t easy, you put your emotion into a case for a period of almost three months, you’re fighting every day, and, essentially, his fate was in everybody else’s hands,” said Thomas, who also represented convicted former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in his lengthy corruption trial.
“But the way that trials progress, and whether or not trials are fair, is always something you have the ability to litigate at a different time. And I’m certain he will follow through with that.”
Around 10pm on 28 January, Melendez and his partner, auxiliary officer John Zieleniewski, attempted to pull over Dent after he had failed to use a traffic signal and disregarded a stop sign.
Dent, a Detroit native and veteran Ford employee, continued to drive at roughly the same speed to a well-lit area and pulled his Cadillac over near an old police station.
The 58-year-old was driving with a suspended license – a point he acknowledged in court. When Dent pulled the vehicle off to the side of the road, he opened his door and put his hands out of the window.
As Melendez approached with his firearm drawn, the officer said he believed Dent was reaching for a gun, or concealing narcotics.
Moments later, Dent was dragged out of the vehicle and placed in a chokehold by Melendez. The officer proceeded to punch Dent in the head 16 times. During the trial, Dent testified that Melendez choked him so tight that he struggled to breathe.
“After he choked me for so long, I gave up,” Dent said.
Dent, who admitted to driving with a suspended license that evening, was initially charged with resisting arrest and possession of cocaine, but the charges were eventually dropped. He has steadfastly denied being under the influence when he was arrested and has previously contended that police planted the evidence at the scene.
During the trial, Thomas repeatedly sought to discredit Dent and to portray Melendez as an officer who acted reasonable under the circumstances. Thomas argued that Dent actively resisted arrest – which Dent denied – and brought forth experts to testify in support the claim.
But assistant prosecutor Donaldson countered that Melendez crossed a fine line, saying there was no excuse for how Dent was treated. Some witnesses – including Melendez’s then-boss, former Inkster police chief Vicki Yost – agreed that the repeated punches to Dent’s head weren’t justified.
“From the first time you saw this video,” Donaldson told jurors on Wednesday, “you knew this was wrong, and nothing’s changed. Nothing’s changed.”
Dent’s attorney, Greg Rohl, said he would have liked to see Melendez convicted on the strangulation charge, but was pleased by the jury’s decision.
“I think justice was served,” Rohl told the Guardian outside the courtroom.
Inkster agreed to pay Dent $1.38m as a result of his arrest by Melendez. The city also paid a $100,000 settlement to close out a separate case that involved allegations against Melendez.
Given the longstanding financial woes in the city of 25,000, Inkster’s treasurer has said a one-time tax hike on homeowners would be levied to raise funds for the settlement, a nearly $200 increase on property tax bills for residents.
