A handcuffed Kalamazoo teenager struggles with a Public Safety officer as he is led down a hallway toward a booking room when the officer shoves him into a wall, injuring his face, according to video of the incident released Tuesday.
The city of Kalamazoo released video of the May 22 incident after the Kalamazoo Gazette filed a Freedom of Information Act request.
The officer involved, Derek Nugent, has been placed on a 10-day, unpaid suspension, Acting Public Safety Chief Jim Mallery announced Monday.
The teenager, who is African-American, lost three teeth. In a complaint filed with the department, his family has alleged that Nugent, who is white, was harassing the youth because he is black.
The officer involved, Derek Nugent, has been placed on a 10-day, unpaid suspension, Acting Public Safety Chief Jim Mallery announced Monday.
The teenager, who is African-American, lost three teeth. In a complaint filed with the department, his family has alleged that Nugent, who is white, was harassing the youth because he is black.
The Gazette is not naming the teen because he is a minor and he has not been charged with a crime.
The video was taken from two security cameras inside Public Safety's Crosstown Parkway headquarters.
The view from the hallway camera shows the teen enter the hallway accompanied by two Public Safety officers. The video is shaky and much of the audio is unintelligible but it is clear the teen is yelling at the officers, one of whom repeatedly tells him to "face the wall."
The teen shouts profanity and is eventually turned toward a wall as an officer appears to hold him by the back of his neck.
About two minutes into the video, Nugent begins walking the teen down the hallway toward a booking room when a tussle occurs and the teenager appears to jerk away from Nugent.
Nugent then shoves him into the cinder-block wall.
The youth immediately falls to the floor, begins crying and moaning, and asks Nugent why the officer had broken out his teeth.
The other officer, who has not been identified, stood at the other end of the hallway.
Nugent drags the youth, whose knees are on the floor, into the adjacent booking room where a second camera continues to record the incident.
The video from that camera shows the teen continuing to writhe in pain on the floor. He repeatedly shouts, "You broke my teeth!"
Another officer briefly peers into the booking room and then leaves. After a few minutes, Nugent picks the teen up onto his feet and walks him back down the hallway as the youth remains doubled over at the waist.
Public Safety officials have said the teen was then transported to Bronson Methodist Hospital and later released to his legal guardian.
The teenager was originally arrested for allegedly violating rules at the Kalamazoo Transportation Center. Since 2005, 20 misdemeanor and felony charges have been brought against the teen, but he was not prosecuted for any of them because judges determined he was mentally incompetent to stand trial.
On Monday, Mallery said he believed Nugent did not intend to harm the teenager but said his actions "would not be condoned." Mallery publicly apologized to the teenager and his family.
Mallery said Nugent has been a Public Safety officer for nearly 10 year and this is his first excessive-force complaint.
The teen's legal guardian, who is related to his father, said Tuesday she is unsatisfied by the suspension and wants Nugent criminally prosecuted. Court records show the teen's mother is in prison but do not make clear where his father is.
A Detroit-area attorney has said he may represent the family in a civil action.
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