DETROIT – A jury has found a Detroit police corporal, who was accused of assaulting a woman who was lashing out at officers at a hospital, guilty.
Corporal Dewayne Jones, 47, is accused of punching a naked woman who was lashing out at security officers at a hospital.
Jones was charged with misconduct in office, along with misdemeanor assault and battery. The misconduct in office charge, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, was dismissed. Jones was still facing the assault charge.
The trial started last week, with new security footage being released. The jury came back with a hung jury verdict earlier this week, but the judge ordered them to continue deliberating.
On Tuesday afternoon, the jury delivered a guilty verdict.
MORE: New hospital security footage shows Detroit police corporal hitting woman at hospital
Jones was in court last Friday in connection with the Aug. 1, 2018, incident. He is heard on video from the day of the incident saying that he treated the woman with respect before she spit on him.
"I punched her, like, eight or nine times," Jones said.
New body camera footage released in court also shows the interaction between Jones and the woman. Jones, 47, is accused of punching a naked woman who was lashing out at security officers at a hospital.
His attorney said he used the proper level of force.
Video from the hospital on Aug. 1, 2018, shows a naked woman violently lashing out at security officers and a Detroit police officer fighting back.
The woman in the video is naked and appears to be in distress. She bit the police officer on the arm and thigh and spit at him and security officers.
Jones beat the woman with repeated blows to the face and chest. Detroit police Chief James Craig called the video disturbing.
"What's disturbing to me, she had her back turned toward him and he kept striking," Craig said.
READ: DPD corporal charged in assault of Detroit Medical Center patient
Detroit Police Union President Mark Diaz believes the prosecutor has overreached in the case.
"A person can definitely be maimed by someone biting onto them so the officer did what he felt at that time was appropriate," Diaz said.
Jones was arraigned Nov. 27 and was jailed in lieu of $5,000 bond.
Jones reinstated
Detroit police commissioners voted to reinstate Jones in December and send him back to work as a police officer. They made their decision in spite of Craig's recommendation that Jones remain suspended. Craig said he stands by his decision and didn't want to criticize another police organization.
Jones is an 18-year veteran of the force.
Watch the video from the hospital here: