Nov 8, 2023
UPDATE: Violent Cop Who Beat Black Man During Booking Gets Indicted
- 8 minutes
The officer has now been arraigned
by the federal government.
Let me remind you of the incident,
here it is.
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No provocation, there's no threat.
And this is a skinny teenager.
And a cop who's out of control, okay?
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He should have been arrested on spot.
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The officers who saw the incident,
we know initially at least one did report.
[00:01:02]
We now have a significant
update to this violent cop.
Put him up at full mass.
Matthew Rodriguez,
the former suburban Detroit police
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officer accused of a federal
civil rights crime for
punching a young black male in the face,
slamming his head to the ground.
He could have died.
This was at Warren PD Station.
[00:01:35]
He appeared in federal court this week
in connection with the multiple charges
related to the physical altercation.
The 14 year officer appeared
before a federal judge Monday,
November 6, and was arraigned on
civil rights violations charges
connected to his actions against Mr.
Jaquan Smith, 19 years of age,
[00:01:55]
was being booked on a carjacking and
weapons charge on June 13.
The FBI stated in a July 7th criminal
complaint that the officer willfully
violated and deprived Smith's civil
rights under the color of law.
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It was last week that the federal
grand jury indicted the former
officer on Thursday,
November 2nd on two counts.
Willfully depriving a prisoner of his
constitutional rights by using excessive
force and
lying about it on official paperwork.
[00:02:27]
The Michigan resident faces up to 30
years in prison and found guilty.
The federal case has subsumed
a state case against Rodriguez,
local station WDIV reports, okay?
The incident was captured by
the jail surveillance camera.
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So he did this, he knew where the camera
was, he was comfortable doing it and
likely this was not
the first time he did it.
Prompting the Department of Justice to
allege he not only used unreasonable and
excessive force, but
provided false information regarding
the incident in his official report.
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The conduct that is alleged here,
a blatant and
shocking violation of the victim's rights.
And then an effort by the former officer
to lie about that cannot be ignored or
go unchecked, US Attorney for
the Eastern District of Michigan,
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Dawn Ison said in a statement
after the indictment was revealed.
I want you to put it up.
You see, authorities, note,
the footage used as evidence has no audio,
but
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it clearly shows the cop completely
losing control, lunging at Mr. Smith.
At one point,
the cop grabs the young man by his hair,
by his locks, slams him,
this time with Smith's
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feet kicking forward in
response to the injury.
The two officers present,
at times they were
holding Smith, holding the wrong person.
The criminal complaint also stated that
Smith had no weapons on his person,
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did not at any time attempt
to fight officer Rodriguez,
and in their assessment,
posed no threat to him.
Instead, from the start of the
altercation, he stood with his hands at
his side and his thumbs in
his pocket before the attack.
Shortly after the incident,
Smith filed a $50 million lawsuit,
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it's a federal suit against
the three officers.
Smith has not commented on the indictment.
So what do we have here?
Well, first of all,
let me start with the fact that
the jurisdiction has a mandate to report.
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They have a mandate to report, okay?
These mandates have no teeth
if enforcement does not
at least go toward those
who fail to report, okay?
Number one, you can't enforce that
unless you make sure people who don't
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report are held completely accountable for
not reporting.
Also, this cop, the way he walked
up to this teenager, the way
he decided to unleash this criminal act
upon this 19 year old kid, basically.
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Well, do you think that was
his first time in his 14,
15 year history that he's
done something like this?
But the reality is you will
not see them opening his file,
investigating cases that
he has been involved in or
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even allegations of misconduct prior
that he was probably cleared of.
They know their officers, especially when
a cop has been on the force this long.
That is why I often say this
is not about the rules.
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Typically, the rules actually make sense.
What's on paper makes sense,
it's the culture of a thing.
Because culture will eat policy alive
every day of the week, as I say.
So in order to transform
the narrative of policing,
you can't simply think reform,
you have to also think replacement.
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You have to replace these bad officers and
this is one way to do it.
Arrest them,
make sure they have a criminal trial, and
they are no longer able to serve in
any official capacity of public trust.
Mr Mayor, as the elected mayor of Enfield,
North Carolina,
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you have police officers, a chief and
officers, detectives, etc.
Typically, and
I remember when you first got elected,
people know who the bad cops are.
They're still on the force,
tell me why it is so
difficult to get rid of bad cops who have
a history of misconduct like this guy.
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And we keep them on the force
at the expense of the taxpayer,
because at the end of this,
guess who's going to pay?
Not him or the people who pay
the taxes of that community.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean,
qualified immunity protects him
from being held liable for this.
The tragedy of this is,
when we talk about bad cops,
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I think we limit it to the wrong people.
We only consider the person
carrying out the act as a bad cop.
If you ask me,
I consider anybody sitting silent,
help maintaining this silence, this
blue code that they don't cross, any of
you that are carrying on in that manner,
watching as officers behave like this.
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This officer was way too comfortable
hitting this young man in his face in
front of a camera to this
to be his first time.
And his partner knew exactly what to do.
Grab his feet, sit on his feet so
he can't do anything except move the feet.
This is absolutely culture, as you said,
and the culture of police, and
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not just in this department, but
in this country, is telling us that
if you are black, you are not safe
in the hands of police officers.
Because they're either gonna be quiet
while you get your brains beat out or
they're gonna beat your brains out.
And that's just the nature of it is.
And if I was lying, Dr Richey, it wouldn't
be so that since George Floyd had
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been killed, more black men
are being killed by cops every year.
>> Speaker 1: Exactly.
Exactly and that's one of the reasons we
needed that George Floyd Policing and
Accountability Act federally so
that we can have a glimpse into
the actual record of police officers.
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Oversight has its own effect of remedy.
Oversight has its own effect of remedy.
All right, we'll bring you
updates as that trial continues.