Fifty-seven-year-old Floyd Dent says he nearly lost his life after police allegedly beat him and placed him in a chokehold during a routine traffic stop.
Police reports indicate that Dent was hit 16 times in the head and was tased three times, according to WDIV-TV.
According to police, the officers were watching the area because it had a high drug rate.
They noticed Dent’s car and followed it, turning on their lights when Dent did not come to a full stop at a stop sign. They claim Dent did not immediately pull over.
Watch the traffic stop in its entirety below:
“When the overhead lights came on, I looked and said, ‘Wow, are they stopping me?’” Dent said. “So I just kept going until I realized that they were really stopping me. The next thing I know, the officer runs up to me with his gun, you know, talking about blowing my head off. Then he grabbed me out of the car and started beating on me, you know. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Watch a full news report on the traffic stop below:
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The accounts given by Dent and the officers involved differ widely.
Officers say Dent refused to put his hands behind his back. Dent says he needed to use his arms to pull the officers’ arms away from his throat so he could breathe.
“I’m lucky to be living,” Dent said. “I think they was trying to kill me, especially when they had choked me.”
Police say Dent shouted “I’ll kill you” at the officers, but there is no audio of such a threat. One officer says Dent bit him, but there is no evidence of bite marks or medical treatment for the bite.
Police say they found a bag of crack cocaine on the scene. Dent says the bag was planted, and one of the officers involved had previously been charged but not convicted of planting evidence and falsifying records.
“I don’t have to sell drugs. I don’t sell drugs,” Dent said.