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Protesters want police charged in violent arrest on tape


GROSSE POINTE, Mich. — Protesters outside the Grosse Pointe Park police headquarters Wednesday said officers abused their power when they hit and kicked a man whose arrest on Monday was caught on amateur video.

The protest took place the same day Michigan State Police announced the agency would investigate the incident.

"This is the kind of thing that can ignite something," said Ron Scott with the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality. "We're here on a peace mission. We're saying, 'If you don't deal with us, then there are a lot of people out here who are not gonna take the time to demonstrate.'"

"We also call for criminal and civil penalties for officers who have engaged in these actions," Scott said in the statement, adding, "We are calling for suspension of these officers until this matter is resolved."

About a dozen people gathered as Scott and others expressed outrage over the treatment of the carjacking suspect arrested in Detroit by officers with a multiagency task force. The arrest on a eastside neighborhood sidewalk was filmed by a woman inside a house.

The video, posted on Facebook, shows one officer punching the man being arrested while someone yells, "Give me your (expletive) arm! Give me your arm!"

Another officer kicks the man.

The man apparently calls out for "Jesus" and an officer said to him: "What'd you say? Jesus? You're calling Jesus? You (expletive) ... Don't you dare. Don't you (expletive) dare."

One of the officers congratulates the other, saying "Good job, man."

Another officer can later be heard saying "that's a justified ass whooping." At one point, police appear to find a pistol on the man.

Grosse Pointe Park police previously issued a statement saying that the man, shown lying on the ground in the video, had allegedly pointed a gun at a mother and her two children during an earlier carjacking, ordering them out of the vehicle and taking it. Police said they found a gun on the man during the arrest.

Grosse Pointe Police Sgt. Jeff Longo briefly addressed the protesters Wednesday to say that Chief David Hiller had no comment for them and that an investigation is under way. Hiller previously called the man a "serious felon" and said the actions of the officers were "proper" in making the arrest.

Michigan State Police are investigating the incident after being contacted by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan Chapter, offered a prayer during Monday's demonstration, thanking God for cell phones that record video so people can be made aware of incidents like this one. Walid said at least one officer "showed glee at the gentleman whose back had a knee in it, who had been hit and kicked by police officers."

Scott called for the multiagency task force involved in Monday's incident to lose its federal funding.

"These are our federal dollars that we pay to stop carjackings, not to kick people with jack boots," he said.

At one point, Grosse Pointe Park resident Andrew Morlan questioned the protesters' certainty of how the incident unfolded. He later told the Free Press that he doesn't condone the officers' action, but he's concerned that people are jumping to conclusions before knowing the facts.

"I think all of the events that transpired before the video was taken is relevant to the story," he said.

Scott said during the protest that his coalition is making formal requests for public information on Monday's incident as they conduct an independent investigation.

Police have not released the name of the man who was arrested, but the Michigan Department of Corrections identified him as Andrew Jackson, Jr., 51, who absconded from parole in April 2014. Jackson was sentenced to prison in 2004 on charges out of Oakland County of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, assault with intent to rob while armed, and fleeing police, according to state records.

Other previous convictions include fleeing police, stolen property offenses and attempted unlawful driving away of a vehicle.

Contributing: Free Press reporters Gina Damron, Tresa Baldas and Elisha Anderson