Detroit police officer charged in death of man he hit
Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Detroit police officer with manslaughter, accusing him of fatally beating a 71-year-old man during a confrontation.
The officer, Juwan Marquise-Alexander Brown, 29, has since been fired by the Detroit Police Department.
On September 1, Mr. Brown was sent to investigate a disorderly conduct complaint against Daryl Vance, a Detroit resident, outside a bowling alley, prosecutors said.
A “verbal confrontation” then escalated between the two men and the officer punched Mr. Vance in the face, causing the older man to fall and hit his head, the complaint said. Medics took Mr. Vance to a hospital. He died three weeks later.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner found the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head, prosecutors said.
“Police officers often deal with citizens who are disorderly and verbally unpleasant,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement Tuesday. “But the evidence in this case shows that the officer was allegedly the aggressor, and his actions went beyond what was criminally necessary in this situation.”
She added: “This behavior cannot be tolerated by our law enforcement officers.”
Mr Brown was suspended the day after the altercation after police reviewed police CCTV footage. the Detroit News reported. Detroit Police Chief James White told local media at the time that there were concerns the officer did not “adequately de-escalate or disengage from the situation.”
On Tuesday, the Detroit Police Department said in a statement that Mr. Brown was fired on September 1 “as a result of his actions.” If convicted, manslaughter carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
Mr. Brown planned to appeal that decision, the department said, but would not be on the police payroll or have any law enforcement authority in the meantime. He will appear in court in Detroit on Wednesday morning.
It was not immediately clear who represented Mr. Brown in court.
A call to Fieger Law, a firm representing Mr. Vance’s family, was not immediately returned Tuesday evening. While Mr. Vance was in the hospital, the company said in September that it planned to file a lawsuit against those responsible, the Detroit News reported.