Residents Of Poor Michigan Town Forced To Pay For Police Brutality Settlement

Inkster, Michigan homeowners will soon face a steep property tax levy to pay the costs of a 1.38 million dollar settlement reached between the city of Inkster and Floyd Dent, a motorist who was savagely beaten by Inkster Police Officer William Melendez. Although 38 percent of Inkster residents live below the federal poverty level, and the average home value is just 55,000 dollars, local homeowners will be forced to pay out an average of 179 dollars a household to offset the costs of the settlement.

Floyd Dent, an African-American motorist was beaten during a traffic stop on January 28th. The beating was captured on videotape and it showed Officer Melendez punching Dent 16 times. Since the incident, Officer Melendez has since been fired from the Inkster Police Department.

He faces felony charges for misconduct in office for mistreatment of a prisoner, and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. If convicted on both counts, Melendez could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

The city of Inkster has a population of about 25,000 residents. Nearly three-fourths of Inkster’s population is African-American. Police brutality settlements are typically borne by the residents of the community being brutalized.

However, the irony is rarely more apparent than in Inkster where a small population of low and middle-income black homeowners will bear the brunt of the costs of paying for the abuse of a fellow black resident at the hands of a non-black police officer.

Clearly cities have a responsibility to compensate victims of police abuse, when local police departments act unlawfully. Floyd Dent is entitled to receive his settlement for the unwarranted brutality he suffered at the hands of an Inkster cop. Nevertheless, it is a tragic irony that the city will pass the costs off onto the citizens of Inkster. For they are the very same people who are being subjected to the police abuse they are now being asked to pay for.