Jury to Decide in Former Officer’s Beating Trial

The dashcam video wasn’t publicly known until WDIV-TV aired it in March.

The egregiousness of Melendez’s offense was telegraphed earlier this year when Inkster fired the rogue officer and agreed to pay Dent $1.38 million rather than waste its time defending Melendez’s conduct (and the city’s own hiring standards) in court.

William Melendez was found guilty of misconduct in office and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.

A former Inkster police officer has been found guilty of misconduct and assault.

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 testified that he had driven to Inkster that night to pick up beer and liquor for a friend and his girlfriend, but denied under cross-examination that he was high on cocaine at the time.

He also pointed out testimony from Aaron Westrick, an expert in the use of force called by the defense, who said Melendez’s actions were “reasonable”. His attorney, James Thomas, said the punches were justified because Dent made suspicious moves inside his auto when pulled over and resisted as Melendez and another officer tried to arrest him.

“He got hit 16 times in the head and he continued to struggle”, Thomas said. It took the biracial jury of eight women and four men just a few hours to conclude that Melendez had assaulted the unresisting Dent without justification, violating his sworn oath and recklessly endangering the motorist’s life.

“After he choked me for so long, I gave up”, Dent said.

Floyd Dent, 58, was repeatedly punched, kicked and stunned in an incident caught on a police dashcam video.

Melendez’s attorney, Jim Thomas, told reporters he plans to appeal the verdict.