The police assault (Police video from WXYZ)
Warren officials kept mum for many months about two of its cops being criminally charged with assaulting a semi-truck driver and of a $400,000 settlement in the case, only 33 days after the incident, reports WXYZ's Ross Jones.
The settlement, classified as a "false arrest," was reached "lightning-quick," Jones reports, even before a lawsuit was filed. Warren officials kept the whole ordeal quiet for six months until WXZY discovered it as a result of a Freedom of Information request.
The payout came last Aug. 23, just 33 days after the arrest.
Jones notes in his on-air report, that while the city was in a hurry to settle the case, no one was in a hurry to talk about it. He said former Warren Mayor Jim Fouts didn't recall the case. The current Mayor Lori Stone did not return his calls. And Jones reports that the city council said it was barred from talking about it.
The revelations of the arrest, charges and settlement coincide with the recent terminations of city attorney Ethan Vinson and police commissioner Bill Dwyer, WXYZ reports.
The two officers pulled the semi-truck driver over in Centerline, outside of the Warren city limits. Ross reports English was not the driver's first language. A video shows the driver being removed from the truck, then taken to the ground and tasered.
Last August, the two officers, Dammeon Player and Carlos Taylor were both charged with assault by Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido, Jones reports. The police department subsequently fired them.
