DETROIT (WWJ) - Jurors have returned a guilty verdict in the case of a police officer caught on video beating a naked woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
Corporal DeWayne Jones of the Detroit Police Department was found guilty of one count of misdemeanor assault and battery in connection with the incident last summer.
He faces up to 93 days in jail a $500 fine at sentencing.
The woman, a patient said to be suffering from a "mental breakdown", was punched several times by the 18-year veteran of the DPD, while other officers were holding her. The beating was caught on cell phone video by a witness who sent it to the media, leading to Jones' suspension, an investigation, and eventually charges by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.
Jones' defense attorney Pamella Szydlak told jurors in her opening statement that the woman spit on and bit her client as he was escorting her to hospital's crisis unit for an evaluation. Szydlak said shortly after they arrived at the hospital, the woman became "vulgar, violent and aggressive," despite Jones' efforts to calm her.
Prosecutors argued that Jones' response amounted to excessive force.
After video of the incident went viral, Detroit Police Chief James Craig called it "troubling," wondering why the officer chose to punch the woman rather than deploying his Taser. The chief said that, out of the roughly 500 calls the DPD handles a month regarding a situation with a mentally ill person, a majority of them are handled very well.
In January, felony charges against Jones were dismissed by Judge Cylenthia Miller who said the woman in this case "was completely out of control."
