Michigan officer punches Black man in face repeatedly during traffic stop

"What I saw in the video was another George Floyd," said Tyrone Bynum, the attorney for the three men

Apr 23, 2021

A Grand Rapids police officer is seen in a video punching a man in the face several times during an arrest for littering.

The bodycam footage of the March 26 incident features a Black man being punched in the face approximately six times by a police officer while being arrested, per TMZ.

The Michigan cops were trying to apprehend the victim, who has since been identified as Diabate Hood. Hood was apparently in the car with two other men, but he refused when asked to evacuate the vehicle. The other men complied.

“What I saw in the video was another George Floyd,” said Tyrone Bynum, the attorney for the three men, who said the officers should not have requested they get out of the car in the first place. Bynum added that an officer is heard saying later in the video that Hood is “lucky he’s not dead.”

The video shows the victim trying to get away from officers by sliding from the driver’s seat to the passenger door but three officers immediately pounce on him.

Hood is seen on the ground with an officer punching him while another officer yells, “stop resisting.” Hood can be heard telling the officers he “cannot breathe.”

The stop was allegedly a part of an Operation: Safe Neighborhoods program due to a surge in crime in the area according to Grand Rapids police. They claim the stop was “timely and accurate intelligence.”

They discovered four weapons in Hood’s vehicle, which turned the initial littering stop into three felony arrests. “This is the police work that I expect from my personnel,” said Grand Rapids PD Chief Eric Payne.

Screenshot Image: Grand Rapids Police Department

According to theGrio, officers in New Jersey are also making headlines for being excessive.

Police Officers in Perth Amboy, NJ are under fire over a viral video that shows them harassing a group of Black and Latino teens who were riding their bikes through town.

The footage shows the officers confiscating several bikes and reprimanding the teenagers for being “unlicensed” bike riders. One of the teens is ultimately hauled away in handcuffs. The 17-minute video circulating on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter on Tuesday show a group of about a dozen teenagers popping wheelies and riding their bicycles on the wrong side of the street and against traffic, NJ Advance Media reports.

The group split up after police appear and start seizing bikes. At one point, an officer is heard telling the group “You guys are supposed to have licenses and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “Guys, we don’t make the rules. You guys know when there’s 30 or 40 of you together, it creates a problem for people driving,” the officer added.

According to the Perth Amboy municipal ordinance, bicycles require license tags, and owners of confiscated bikes receive their property back upon “payment of any fine imposed or upon any final adjudication.”

“I appreciate you guys stopping, okay,” the officer tells the group. “I told you, I promised you we’re not taking your bikes.”

The group is given a verbal warning about obtaining licenses to ride their BMX-style bikes through the city. The video then cuts to another officer, identified as a sergeant, who orders the cops to confiscate the bikes of two teens who argue with him. “Take their bikes,” the sergeant is heard saying. The one Black teenager who refuses to give up his bike is handcuffed and put in a patrol car. It’s unclear if he was charged with a crime.

Perth Amboy Council President William A. Petrick said he saw no arrest in the video and noted that the teenager was simply taken into “protective custody.”

Additional reporting by Ny Magee

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