Grosse Pointe Park police investigating video of suspect beating

[animatedmartian]

if my mom had just put a gun in the face of a woman and kid...stole the car, evaded and resisted arrest to the point she needed to be tackled and physically restrained whilst still armed.... I'm not sure her getting a slap from a frustrated cop is top of the list of things I'd be upset about.

But see a frustrated cop isn't allowed to slap anyone. You could get pulled over for having too many traffic tickets, but it's his 20th time seeing you and he arrests you for not paying tickets. He could be furious because you said something about his sick wife being a whore, but he is not allowed to to do anything other than put the cuffs on you and take you to jail. He can respond verbally, sure, but not physically.

It should upset you because police officers have the power to arrest you for violating the law. It is outside of their power to be a judge and pick and choose who gets a slap on the face just because of however he's feeling that day or in the moment. That is a sort of abuse of power that they could use on any citizen they want. And quite frankly, if they're being paid with your tax money, I would think people would want strict standards on police conduct.

[animatedmartian]

Excuse me? I'd be very upset if I were slapped across the face. What if that were your mom; would it still be not worth getting upset over?

I was already pessimistic and figured that people are going to gloss over cops coloring slightly outside the lines just because of how little the physical hits were. This isn't like a Rodney King case where 20th officers are beating a guy for 10 straight minutes, but yea, I understand it's still outside of the lines.

[rb336]

you can hear what is presumably the clicking sounds of the handcuffs which is right before the cop gets off of the suspect.

Odd, you see the cop's arms in no position to actually be cuffing the guy at the point you claim to hear the cuffs being clicked. give me the time stamp of that and I will take a closer look

The only other possible explanation would be that the suspect was running while his hands were cuffed. Which actually would still justify the police actions as the suspect would then still be resisting arrest but to which degree, I don't know. But honestly that would require other evidence that isn't from the video.

If the suspect were running handcuffed he most likely WOULD fall - it is very hard to run and stay balanced with your hands behind your back. That would justify the cop sitting on him but it sure as hell wouldn't justify him wailing on him while the other was kicking him in the head. The ONLY time such violence is acceptable is when there is a DIRECT threat of bodily harm to the police and the public.

[ABetterDetroit]

if my mom had just put a gun in the face of a woman and kid...stole the car, evaded and resisted arrest to the point she needed to be tackled and physically restrained whilst still armed.... I'm not sure her getting a slap from a frustrated cop is top of the list of things I'd be upset about.

This is a pretty accurate statement. If it was my brother or son when I visited them if they started to whine about getting slapped, knee in the back or face in the snow after being cuffed my answer would be SFU and tell me about the gun and car jacking. Could be that I was raised that there are bad consequences for doing bad things to people.

[animatedmartian]

Odd, you see the cop's arms in no position to actually be cuffing the guy at the point you claim to hear the cuffs being clicked. give me the time stamp of that and I will take a closer look

Right at 14 seconds into the video. At the 15 second mark, that's when the cop swings out his arm to give the suspect a slap as he's getting up.

If the suspect were running handcuffed he most likely WOULD fall - it is very hard to run and stay balanced with your hands behind your back. That would justify the cop sitting on him but it sure as hell wouldn't justify him wailing on him while the other was kicking him in the head. The ONLY time such violence is acceptable is when there is a DIRECT threat of bodily harm to the police and the public.

I don't think the cop kicked the guy in the head, it looked more like his upper legs or hips. Not that it legally makes a difference where it was.

[Bobl]

A 51 year old career criminal pulls a gun on a woman and her two grandchildren, verbally abuses one child, steals the woman's phone and car, resists arrest when the cops find the stupid fool by the cell phone pings, running a quarter mile, still with the gun. Screw him. I'm glad some karma caught up with him, if he did the crime. Regarding the cops: turn the investigation over to the State Police.
Ultimately, future police misconduct investigations need to be brought to a grand jury or some venue other than the good ole boys network, and jackasses who commit crimes with a gun should be nailed hard.

[Wesley Mouch]

A 51 year old career criminal pulls a gun on a woman and her two grandchildren, verbally abuses one child, steals the woman's phone and car, resists arrest when the cops find the stupid fool by the cell phone pings, running a quarter mile, still with the gun. Screw him. I'm glad some karma caught up with him, if he did the crime. Regarding the cops: turn the investigation over to the State Police.
Ultimately, future police misconduct investigations need to be brought to a grand jury or some venue other than the good ole boys network, and jackasses who commit crimes with a gun should be nailed hard.

Good balanced post.

I do think we've moved beyond the 'good ole boys network' days. But the lynch mobs demanding cops heads aren't satisfied even by pre-chosen grand juries, as we've seen in Ferguson.

Rogue acts by cops, I assert, are pretty well handled today. The much bigger problem for our urban safety is the second-guessing brigade who don't see the video of the armed car-jacking, and have never been around a cop trying to get a non-compliant suspect to comply [[as is the law). They just see the video of a cop thumping on somebody -- and then think there's always a better, magical way to do this. Well, there isn't. The guy's got a gun. And it takes just one bullet for you, a fellow officer, or a camera-phone totting cop hater is dead. Should you kick the guy with your knee to get him to give up, or do you just let him stand a grab his gun? What would you choose? What's best for our city?

[softailrider]

The point is, once they had the guy on the ground and under their control, they should cuff him, remove his weapon, and take him in.

They were just beating him because they were pissed.

Totally agree. Lets go one step further, If the cops knew they were being recorded a lot of what went on wouldn't have happened.

[animatedmartian]

So it seems the one cop, Ronald Dupuis, the one seen cuffing the suspect, has a history of police misconduct.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...past/21769211/

He was fired from Hamtramck's Police Department for tasering his female partner over an argument about stopping to buy some pop, and beat up a mentally disabled man at a gas station while working for Southgate's PD.

He actually got acquitted for the tasering, but an arbiter upheld his firing from Hamtramck PD.

There's been a history of federal lawsuits against this same cop for assault, but all of them had been dismissed.

This is also the same cop who shot himself in the leg while inside Highland Park's PD [[where he currently works).

Not sure if any of this has any relevance to this current incident but it's not unprecedented for this guy to be do some questionable things while wearing a badge.

[Gpwrangler]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/27...s-it-justified

Lock this dude up and quit wasting taxpayers' money because the mean officer didn't serve him tea and ask politely for his gun. So sick of this shit.

[Gpwrangler]

snipped ...what's to stop them from using that force on you?

Ummm because when I was pulled over for a missing license plate I was polite and kept my hands in view and complied with instructions and didn't run my mouth.

[rb336]

Right at 14 seconds into the video. At the 15 second mark, that's when the cop swings out his arm to give the suspect a slap as he's getting up.

I don't think the cop kicked the guy in the head, it looked more like his upper legs or hips. Not that it legally makes a difference where it was.

OK, thanks. You are right. and I heard him say "give me your arm" at around 12 seconds. didn't hear that the first time around. Of course that was on the news where they would rather hear their own voices. Still not sure all the head punches were warranted, as he was restrained [[just try getting up with a knee on your spine).

[DetroitBoy]

Good balanced post.

I do think we've moved beyond the 'good ole boys network' days. But the lynch mobs demanding cops heads aren't satisfied even by pre-chosen grand juries, as we've seen in Ferguson.

Rogue acts by cops, I assert, are pretty well handled today. The much bigger problem for our urban safety is the second-guessing brigade who don't see the video of the armed car-jacking, and have never been around a cop trying to get a non-compliant suspect to comply [[as is the law). They just see the video of a cop thumping on somebody -- and then think there's always a better, magical way to do this. Well, there isn't. The guy's got a gun. And it takes just one bullet for you, a fellow officer, or a camera-phone totting cop hater is dead. Should you kick the guy with your knee to get him to give up, or do you just let him stand a grab his gun? What would you choose? What's best for our city?

A convicted felon and parole violator car jacks a grandmother and her grandchilden at gun point. When he is pursued by the police, he resists arrest. It takes multiple cops to subdue, hand cuff and disarm him. What kind of people would not possibly be rejoicing that this criminal was captured and taken off the streets? Detroit has become a war zone of complete lawlessness where children are killed by gun fire on a regular basis. Where people cannot even be safe in their own homes because criminals will brazenly kick the door down and invade anytime of the day or night. Where the police chief encourages residents who are in immediate danger in their homes to defend[[shoot to kill) the invader to protect thmselves. Now it appears to be sinking to an even further low. Residents and neighborhood groups are threatening protests against the very same police officers who are trying to stop the rein of terror in the city which is rapidly spreading to the suburbs. All this will do is encourage further barbarism.

How did we get to the point where people now believe convicted criminals should be considered victims of the police when they do their job to apprehend them?

[animatedmartian]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/27...s-it-justified

Lock this dude up and quit wasting taxpayers' money because the mean officer didn't serve him tea and ask politely for his gun. So sick of this shit.

Who said anything about the cop having to be nice to the criminal? A police officer is supposed to be impartial and rational. If they can't do that, then that leaves them liable to do something excessive and unnecessary no matter the circumstances. From what I've seen, a lot of police officers are very capable of that and do great jobs at it. The ones who are bad and sloppy at their jobs are the ones who shouldn't be police officers because it doesn't take much for them to abuse their authority. Punching a guy when he's cuffed is abuse.

[animatedmartian]

How did we get to the point where people now believe convicted criminals should be considered victims of the police when they do their job to apprehend them?

Because when some police do their job, they go above and beyond and get upset at the criminal for saying something and hitting him for it while he's apprehended.

[DetroitBoy]

Because when some police do their job, they go above and beyond and get upset at the criminal for saying something and hitting him for it while he's apprehended.

This person is a CONVICTED FELON who has broken the law multiple times and is in violation of parole which means he is a fugitive. The police are first and foremost responsible for protecting the citizens of the city of Detroit. When they are confronted with a criminal at large, they need to take him down by whatever means possible to ensure he does not continue to be a threat to the citizens. He was already proven guilty and has violated parole. By definition, he is a dangerous criminal and was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. They did what they had to do to contain and arrest him. They did their job to protect the citizens and only a fool would come to any other conclusion that this criminal was somehow victimized by the police.

[animatedmartian]

This person is a CONVICTED FELON who has broken the law multiple times and is in violation of parole which means he is a fugitive. The police are first and foremost responsible for protecting the citizens of the city of Detroit. When they are confronted with a criminal at large, they need to take him down by whatever means possible to ensure he does not continue to be a threat to the citizens. He was already proven guilty and has violated parole. By definition, he is a dangerous criminal and was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. They did what they had to do to contain and arrest him. They did their job to protect the citizens and only a fool would come to any other conclusion that this criminal was somehow victimized by the police.

Yes but AFTER arresting him they are not allowed to do with him as they please. If he is no longer a threat, the cops have no justification for hitting him.

[mtburb]

Well, I just checked that new link and a photo of the suspect had been posted.

Guess what? With the actions seen in that video, looks like we have a whole heap of trouble heading our way-unfortunately, it may possibly result in a Ferguson right here in Detroit.

[DetroitBoy]

Yes but AFTER arresting him they are not allowed to do with him as they please. If he is no longer a threat, the cops have no justification for hitting him.

Given the state of crime in the city, we should be supporting the police to do whatever they need to do to regain control and take the streets back from those who have no respect for themselves or anyone else. God forbid you are ever carjacked and assaulted like this grandmother. You might feel differently if someone like him aims a gun at you and your children.

[MSUguy]

Given the state of crime in the city, we should be supporting the police to do whatever they need to do to regain control and take the streets back from those who have no respect for themselves or anyone else. God forbid you are ever carjacked and assaulted like this grandmother. You might feel differently if someone like him aims a gun at you and your children.

Whatever they need no to do? Plenty of people only be assaulted by the police during an arrest only to the have been found to be the wrong person, falsely accused.etc. That this person more than likely is guilty is completely irrelevant, the police not being able play judge and rough someone up protects every citizen rights.

[animatedmartian]

Given the state of crime in the city, we should be supporting the police to do whatever they need to do to regain control and take the streets back from those who have no respect for themselves or anyone else. God forbid you are ever carjacked and assaulted like this grandmother. You might feel differently if someone like him aims a gun at you and your children.

Yes, police officers should do their job and arrest criminals. But they don't have authority to beat a criminal senseless AFTER arresting them. What part of police misconduct don't you get? There's no part of their job description that allows them to put their knee into a guys back just because he's screaming about Jesus.

[DetroitBoy]

Yes, police officers should do their job and arrest criminals. But they don't have authority to beat a criminal senseless AFTER arresting them. What part of police misconduct don't you get? There's no part of their job description that allows them to put their knee into a guys back just because he's screaming about Jesus.

I watched the video. No one was 'beaten senseless' so cut the drama. He was on the ground and speaking clearly. I am not a police officer nor will i profess to know what is appropriate procedure. Apparently you feel very comfortable you are an expert at it and know the entire situation including the chase and before the commencement of the video. What i saw was the perp was cuffed and face down but he was not disarmed at that point. The officers continued to make contact with his body until they got his weapon. By the way, cuffing a person does not mean they are no longer a threat. Many experienced criminals are able to assault officers and escaped even when cuffed. Or the will use other parts of their body to incapacitate the officer. This guy did not steal someone's bicycle. He is a convicted felon for armed robbery, did time, was paroled then skipped parole and was living as a fugitive. Chances are pretty good he was an aggressive fighter who challenged the multiple officers right until he was put in a cell. This view of him being a nonviolent offender pummelled by the arresting officers is simply not true. And what is even more appalling is that you think he was treated unfairly because he was black. There is nothing in the video that objectively shows that as an issue. You have projected that into your interpretation of what you saw because the perp was black. In most of the video you cant even see his face.

[animatedmartian]

I watched the video. No one was 'beaten senseless' so cut the drama. He was on the ground and speaking clearly. I am not a police officer nor will i profess to know what is appropriate procedure. Apparently you feel very comfortable you are an expert at it and know the entire situation including the chase and before the commencement of the video.

Well of course I know the whole situation, multiple news articles have statements from the police officers and the witness on what happened. I know about as much as anyone reading the story.

What i saw was the perp was cuffed and face down but he was not disarmed at that point. The officers continued to make contact with his body until they got his weapon.

There's a good long time from when he was cuffed to when the cops searched him for his gun. There's a whole situation that occurred during that time that had nothing to do with searching for a gun.

By the way, cuffing a person does not mean they are no longer a threat. Many experienced criminals are able to assault officers and escaped even when cuffed. Or the will use other parts of their body to incapacitate the officer.

Judging by the body language of the police officers, they didn't seemed to threatened while the suspect was laying on the ground. There's actually a good chunk of time of the cops just walking away from the suspect approaching him, then walking away again. That's not behavior you see by people feeling threatened.

This guy did not steal someone's bicycle. He is a convicted felon for armed robbery, did time, was paroled then skipped parole and was living as a fugitive. Chances are pretty good he was an aggressive fighter who challenged the multiple officers right until he was put in a cell. This view of him being a nonviolent offender pummelled by the arresting officers is simply not true.

So like, what was this aggressive fighter doing this whole video? In fact, what aggressive fighter lays face down on the ground screaming jesus and saying sorry and lets the cops search him for his weapon and then tells them he has drug needles? Was he like aggressively compliant? I don't know if you watched the same video, but in the whole 9 minutes of the video the suspect spent probably 10 to 12 seconds resisting before being cuffed and otherwise mostly compliant with the police.

And what is even more appalling is that you think he was treated unfairly because he was black. There is nothing in the video that objectively shows that as an issue. You have projected that into your interpretation of what you saw because the perp was black. In most of the video you cant even see his face.

I have no idea what you're talking about here. I personally never mentioned anything about race.

[aj3647]

But after that, unless there is some clear act that would endanger a law enforcement officer or indeed anybody, any abuse is not legal. That is when the knee in the back furthering blows, albeit lesser, and the Jesus cursing occurred.

Oh no, the Jesus cursing! How DARE that officer use foul langauge! Fire him immediately and give this carjacker a six figure civil judgement for having his innocent virgin ears inundated with the officer's mean language! If you want to critique the level of force used, fine, but to bitch about the cop "cursing?"

As for the legality, I guess it depends on your definiton of "abuse." Was this man harmed in any way? If a cop puts his knee in your back to keep you on the ground after you carjacked someone at gunpoint and led the officers on a quarter mile foot chase [[which indicates that not only are you a flight risk, but also a threat to the community), is that "abuse?" Do you think Kym Worthy is going to indict? I don't.

[Gpwrangler]

Well, I just checked that new link and a photo of the suspect had been posted.

Guess what? With the actions seen in that video, looks like we have a whole heap of trouble heading our way-unfortunately, it may possibly result in a Ferguson right here in Detroit.

If you want to burn Detroit for a carjacker this place is more fucked up than I ever thought.