FARMINGTON HILLS (WWJ) Farmington Hills Police are facing a lawsuit from a resident who claims three officers unlawfully detained and assaulted him.
A statement released by the plaintiff’s attorney says the plaintiff, David Hurley, 59, “revealed that his life could have ended in peril at the hands of Farmington Hills Police.”
Hurley’s attorney, Dionne Webster-Cox, writes in the statement that Hurley, who is Black, was “falsely arrested” outside of his home about a year ago.
Webster-Cox’s statement claims three officers “tackled (Hurley) to the ground and put a knee on Hurley’s neck and back” as his children watched.
“So he puts his knee on his neck to get him down, and then he’s like man ‘I can’t breathe’ ‘I can’t breathe. Stop. But I live here’” Webster-Cox told WWJ’s Charlie Langton. “(Hurley’s) pleading out to them and (the officer is) trying to put him in handcuffs…”
“I thought I was going to die,” Hurley said in the statement, adding he believed he was “minutes away from becoming another statistic like George Floyd or Eric Garner.”
The officers identified in the complaint are Anthony Batman, L Dixon and Robert Garrett.
Police were trying to locate and arrest the boyfriend of a teenage girl who was accused of assaulting her, the lawsuit claims.
“This officers were already in pursuit of a person who looked nothing like my client…” Webster-Cox told WWJ.
“Instead, Mr. Hurley…a Black man…was the first man police saw” when he walked outside after he saw someone running through his bushes on the side of his house, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that police asked for Hurley’s ID, which he did not have on him at the time; and Hurley “pleaded” with police for the chance to tell his kids how to get his ID to prove he was the homeowner.
“Instead, (the officers) opted to brutalize him,” the Webster-Cox’s press statement reads.
Webster-Cox said Hurley has been under doctors’ care for the past year for “severe neck and back injuries,” WWJ’s Charlie Langton reports.
“He was detained for almost 10 or 15 minutes,” Webster-Cox told Langton.
Webster-Cox said Farmington Hills Police Chief apologized, but she said “it’s not enough.”
She says this lawsuit is about “gross negligence, civil rights violations, excessive force and (an) illegal arrest.”
Farmington Hills Police Chief Jeff says his officers acted appropriately and will “vigorously” defend the lawsuit.
Farmington Hills Police have yet to release an official statement responding to the incident and lawsuit. We will share it with you as soon as they do.