Detroit — A Melvindale police officer accused of using excessive force in two traffic stops in 2024 faces a jury this week that will determine his fate.
Melvindale Police Lt. Matthew Furman is charged with common law offenses, felonious assault and misdemeanor assault and battery in both cases. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
The trial, which began Monday, covers two of his three criminal cases; the third is set to begin April 27. A jury made up of six Black people and eight white people will determine Furman’s fate.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Makepeace said while jurors will be deciding on charges in two separate instances of alleged excessive force, they will find the issues in both cases are the same.
“The issue is going to come down to one of intent,” Makepeace said. “Did Matthew Furman, when he did what you saw on video, have a corrupt intent? Did he intend to assault Drakkar Williams and Alica Cook?”
Furman’s attorney, Dennis Whittie, said the use of force “isn’t pretty” and the videos may be emotional. He said he had a visceral reaction to the body camera footage when he saw it for the first time. Then his opinion shifted as he learned more.
“We have the benefit of waiting to see a video, and we can pause it, we can rewind it, we can transcribe it,” Whittie said. “With our police officers in real time, he or she does not have that luxury. And sometimes, when they’re not, I guess, diligent enough, sometimes those officers get hurt or even worse.”
Prosecutor, witness say Furman was ‘aggressive’ in approach
Williams was the first witness to testify Monday. He said he was pulled over by Furman on July 20, 2024. Furman told him he was pulled over for having expired insurance and because he drove around a barricade, Williams said.
“It just seemed like he was aggressive. He was angry,” Williams said. “He was asking me questions, but wouldn’t allow me to really answer them.”
Furman told Williams to turn around and put his hands on the hood of the car, which Williams said he did. Furman later told him to put his hands behind his back, which Williams said he could not do because of the way another officer and Furman were positioned.
“I heard, ‘Put your hands behind your back or you’ll be tased,’” Williams said. “He said that and, not even a split second later, he started tasing me.”
The body camera footage shows there are several seconds between the command and the start of the use of the taser.
Furman repeatedly tased Williams, he said, “on my back, my legs, he even went around to the other side of the door and was tasing me.”
Furman and another officer took Williams to the ground and handcuffed him, then moved him over near a firetruck, where they told him to sit down. Williams got up, and the other officer tried to get him to sit down. But Williams said Furman pushed him, and he bounced back on the firetruck. Williams did not sit all the way down because of this, he said, and Furman grabbed his hair and pushed his head into the firetruck.
Whittie said Furman did not grab Williams’ hair and slam his head into the firetruck; he grabbed his hair and pushed him to sit down, and another officer pushed Williams back. After Furman pulled Williams’ hair to get him to sit down, the other officer intervened and pushed Furman’s hand away, the video shows.
Whittie said Williams giving Furman a fake name only “escalates an officer’s worry” about approaching an unknown person in a vehicle. Whittie said Williams didn’t follow Furman’s commands and resisted arrest.
When Furman tased Williams, Whittie said, he followed the Melvindale Police Department’s policies.
“You’re not going to see him pummeling this guy, punching him, kicking him,” Whittie said. “You see him giving commands, you see Mr. Williams not complying … and they do have to take him to the ground.”
Furman also detained Williams’ girlfriend and ordered her out of the car.
“When you’re told to do something, you do it,” Furman yelled at the girlfriend as she hesitated. Later, he told her to “sit down and shut the (expletive) up.”
“I’m a cop who lays down the law when people fuck around,” Furman told her as they sat in the police car together.
Furman does traffic stop on parked car for expired plate
In the second case, Furman arrested Alica Cook on April 13, 2024, for having an expired license plate during a traffic stop, “if you can call it that,” Makepeace said. Cook was in a car, parked, with her two daughters outside an educational institute in Melvindale.
He approached her “in an aggressive manner,” Makepeace said, and tried to remove her from the car. She was scared, so she held onto the steering wheel, he said. When the officer could not get her out of the car, he used his taser on her, prosecutors previously said.
Whittie said Cook refused to comply, even as her teenage daughter in the front seat begged her to. He told her if she didn’t step out of the car, she would be tased, Whittie said. Then he tased her.
“That’s what Melvindale police policy states officers are supposed to do,” Whittie said. “Now if we want to charge those officials for creating bad policy, that’s fine. … Furman is socked in this specific framework that he must comply with in order to be within the confines of the law.”
Furman has been accused of assault before. In 2019, Furman was charged with assault for causing an intoxicated man to fall. He pleaded no contest to willful neglect of duty and was given a year of probation with conditions that he attend anger management classes and make restitution.
He has a third assault and misconduct case beginning next week for another alleged excessive use of force case in July 2021. Furman allegedly kicked a male suspect multiple times in his leg and ankle as he was secured in handcuffs.
kberg@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Melvindale police officer’s use of taser goes on trial in excessive force case
Reporting by Kara Berg, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
