Fighting back tears, a Detroit man and longtime auto worker with no criminal history, described how Inkster police officers dragged him from his car one night in January, choked him, beat him and Tasered him during a traffic stop that was caught on patrol car video.
"He was beating me upside the head," Floyd Dent, 57, told a hoard of reporters and TV crews during a press conference at his attorney's office Wednesday afternoon, as tears trickled his cheeks. "I was trying to protect my face with my right arm. I heard one of them say, 'tase the M...F. '"
The Jan. 28 incident was caught on police video cameras and is making national news It shows Inkster police pulling over Dent in his 2011 tan Cadillac near South River Park Drive and Inkster Drive shortly before 10 p.m. The two officers approach with their guns drawn. As Dent opens the door, they pull him out and shove him to the ground. Dent does not appear in the video to be resisting arrest.
As he is on the ground, a police officer later identified as William Melendez has him in a choke hold, and is repeatedly pounding him on his head. A second officer is attempting to handcuff him behind his back, but Dent has his right arm up, trying to protect his face and head against Melendez.
Another officer arrives and kicks him, and then another officer Tasers Dent in the thigh and stomach as he is handcuffed. Dent, who has worked for Ford for 37 years, said he was hospitalized for two days for injuries to his face and head.
