“You utilized your Dirty Harry tactics and used excessive force to arrest him,” Evans told the officer.
Evans said she got letters from various people testifying to Melendez’s high character and past acts of heroism, including saving people from a burning building.
Where was that man on the day Dent was beaten? “The way you denigrated that man was awful,” Evans said. Melendez was found guilty in November of assault and misconduct in the bloody beating of Dent during a traffic stop that was
captured on video
.
Police stopped Dent, 58, in Inkster for disregarding a stop sign, and dashcam video from a police vehicle shows Melendez punching him 16 times in the head.
Melendez was fired. Inkster later agreed to pay $1.4 million to Dent, who suffered broken ribs, blood on his brain and other injuries,
CBS Detroit
reports.