Defenders exclusive: New video shows Inkster cops laughing while Floyd Dent bleeds

INKSTER, Mich. – Inkster Police didn't want to turn over this video.

And for good reason.

There's no question the footage is troubling. Better to ask what's going to be done about it?

You pay for these officers' salaries. Their job is to serve and protect, but in this video, rather than getting a bloody Floyd Dent medical attention, they appear to be joking around and celebrating as they clean his blood off their uniforms.

"Quite honestly, they are disgusting," said Dent's attorney Greg Rohl. "They show officers making fun of Floyd. They show them congratulating each other for this beat down and the whole time he is there watching it."

There's no audio with the video, which may be a good thing for the officers because it looks like the police are reliving the arrest and alleged assault of Dent while he was just off camera and in earshot.

"He is bleeding like a sieve, there is blood everywhere," said Rohl. "The officers don't seem at all disturbed by what happened at the scene. They appear happy, pleased, even celebratory over the arrest of Floyd Dent—a man who was just beaten kicked and tased.

As the officers continue wiping Dents blood off them, an officer decides to do a little acting. He lies down on a bench and imitates Dent being on the ground at the scene choked by Officer William Melendez. His acting seems to thrill rather than disgust his audience.

At the same time, Dent is suffering from a closed head injury, broken ribs, and a fractured orbital but had not been allowed to see a doctor for his injuries.

Dent could not even respond to this video. He told Local 4 he was just too disgusted to respond.

When a judge looked at the video of the vicious beating following a traffic stop, she was appalled. She threw out multiple charges against him.

When Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy saw the video she dropped the rest of Dent's charges and issued criminal charges against Melendez, the now-fired officer caught on tape choking and punching Dent in the head.

"Mr. Dent's drug charge will be dismissed to the best interest of justice and accordingly Mr. William Melendez is being charged by our office," Worthy said last week.

But Inkster didn't immediately turn over this video from inside the police station.

The Inkster Police officials watched the videos didn't think Dent deserved to have them as part of his defense against serious felonies he was charged with at the time. They claim these videos were not specifically requested.

Dent's attorneys say the second someone in authority observed officers making fun of an injured prisoner, they should have notified the prosecutor. They also say the defense should have received copies of the tapes.

"I feel like I have to apologize as a white male in America for what happened to Floyd Dent," said Rohl. "It's an outrage. I'm absolutely stunned and disturbed that this could happen."

Inkster's chief of police has since resigned and others caught on tape both at the scene and in the police station are finally being investigated, almost two months after the incident.

"And what about the other officers in that video? The answer to you is they will be under investigation as well," Inkster city manager Richard Marsh said during a recent news conference.

According to Inkster Mayor Hilliard Hampton, the city council had ordered Marsh and Inkster's City Attorney to provide them with a detailed account of their involvement and response to the Dent incident.

Those reports are due on the mayor's desk Monday. Hampton has promised to take disciplinary action against anyone who broke the rules.

As for Floyd Dent, he doesn't need a report to know what happened that night at the Inkster police station: "These officers just didn't care."