The former police officer out of Inkster, Michigan who has become known as “Robocop” will now face charges after the video of him beating Detroit resident Floyd Dent during an arrest, went viral. The Detroit Metro Times, explains that officer William Melendez will be charged with “misconduct of office and assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder.”
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy made the announcement Monday, adding “to many people in this region and across this country … police brutality seems to be out of control.”
Highland Park Police Sgt. Ronald Dupuis and Grosse Pointe Park Sgt. James Volger have also been under investigation, but will not face any charges whatsoever.
The charges did not arise until after the Inkster Police Department released the video yesterday at the request of the attorney of Floyd Dent, the suspect in the surveillance video in question.
That video footage shows Dent with covered in blood all over the front of his shirt. It clearly shows him wiping blood from his head as well.
There is no audio, but Dent explained in an interview with Local 4 Defenders that he was begging officers to get him medical attention. That request was denied.
“I’m just sittin there, and everyone is just looking at me like I’m a circus clown,” he said. “[I’m] bleeding like a hog, and then they put me in the jail cell.”
“They had me lean up against the wall, on the bench on my knees,” he added, recalling his strip search. “This is so terrible.”
When doctors finally got a look at him, they documented that he had four broken ribs, a fractured orbital, and brain bleeding, a local 4 Defender’s interview reported.
An earlier video showed the arrest in January and was released last week. It only showed the dashcam footage where Dent was pulled from his car, place in a chokehold, and punched 16 times in the head, as well as being kicked and tased three times.
The video made it clear that Dent was never resisting as officers had claimed.
Watch video below from Local 4 Defenders…