Only a few days after officers of the department had been charged with beating a black driver in January that had been caught on camera, the police chief of a Detroit suburb resigned.
Excessive force employed by police officers against minorities have been sparkling turmoil as well as protest in many cities in the US and this was the most recent resignation of a police chief following a string of such mishaps.
Police Chief Vick Yost’s resignation had been effective immediately according to a statement from the city of Inkster, although there was not any mentioning of the case of beating and Yost has been thanked for her service with the police force.
Prosecutors have charged former Inkster Officer William Melendez, 46, on Monday, with charges followed by the release of the video footage, of misconduct and assault in the beating of black motorist, Floyd Dent.
The video footage shows that Melendez can be seen coming towards Dent’s car with his gun drawn before the door opens and his partner pulls Dent out of the car. Melendez then wraps his arm around Dent’s neck and punches him on the head while the partner handcuffs him.
According to Dent, 57, the police had physically abused him and planted cocaine in his car after the traffic stop about 20 miles west of downtown Detroit. The cocaine possession had been dismissed of Wednesday and a spokeswoman of the prosecutor had stated on Monday that the charge would be dropped with this week.
In March, Melendez had testified at Dent’s drug charge hearing that Dent had run over a stop sign after leaving a motel acknowledged for drug activities and had threatened him and his partner after they pulled him over.
Earlier this month, Melendez had been fired from the department for charges of misconduct in officer, mistreatment of a prisoner with intent to do bodily harm. He would be facing up to 10 years of time in prison if convicted.