Prosecutors Consider Charges Against Detroit Cop In Rough Arrest Caught On Video
DETROIT (WWJ) - Prosecutors are mulling charges against an officer with the Detroit Police Special Operations Unit in connection with a rough arrest at a gas station in May.
In speaking with reporters Thursday, Police Chief James Craig would not name the officer, but confirmed that an internal investigation of the incident has been completed.
Craig said the officer remains on restricted desk duty, with pay, as the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office consider the case.
"The Force Section took the case, did an exhaustive investigation, and from that — as we do when there's a force incident, one that's complicated or in any deadly force situation — we take the completed investigated work and give it to the prosecutor's office, which did happen in this case. In fact, it's at the prosecutor's office at this moment, it's been reviewed, no decision has been made."
A cell phone video of the incident, obtained by WDIV-TV, shows two officers beginning to arrest a D'Marco Craft ,but then letting him up off the ground and setting him free. Craft then walks into a gas station; a officer follows and appears to use MACE on the suspect. That's when Craft is thrown by the officer against a rack of snacks, and then pulled to the ground.
Craig acknowledged that has seen the video, as well as a store security camera of the incident.
"Certainly (on the cell phone video) you see the deployment of chemical spray, and subsequently the suspect being taken down," the chief said. "So when you see that it appears that the suspect was not offering any resistance, and the officer initiated the contact. But when you look at the store video there's certainly more activity prior that led up to that."
"I will say this, because I saw the video from the store: Just prior to the deployment of chemical spray...the suspect did take a swing at the officer," Craig said, adding that it's difficult to tell if that punch missed or made contact.
All of that being said, Craig stressed that it's not up to him to determine if anything criminal took place on the part of police. That, he said, is up to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
Craig said while a criminal investigation is pending, he will not be releasing the store video or any further details.
If the officer is not charged criminally, Craig said, he will be dealt with "administratively" within the department.
"Because if something is wrong, it may not be as serious as criminality, we will take appropriate action, even if it amounts to retraining of the concerned officer," Craig said.
"And this shouldn't be reflective of an entire police department. You know, we make thousands of contacts over the course of a week or a month and the vast majority if them work out well. And when we have one that doesn't work out as well, we certainly don't want the public to view that as this is the standard operating procedure of the police department."
A lawsuit filed Tuesday against the city and the officers involved alleges that Craft had been harassed by the officers in the past. More information about the suit is expected to be released at a news conference Friday.
