Inkster settles another case alleging excessive force

Inkster's police department will cost property owners money, again.

Days after the city finalized a $1.37-million settlement with a motorist who was repeatedly punched by an officer during a traffic stop, Inkster settled another excessive force case.

Ex-Inkster officer William Melendez, who was fired from his job earlier this year after patrol car video of Floyd Dent's Jan. 28 arrest became public, was involved in both incidents.

Federal court documents show the latest settlement for $100,000 stemmed from the July 2011 arrest of DeShawn Acklin. He was handcuffed then choked and beaten until he lost consciousness, according to his lawsuit against the city and seven Inkster officers, including Melendez.

"I thought I was about to die," Acklin said in a deposition last summer.

A consent judgment was filed in the case earlier this month, but Acklin, who said he was kept in jail for three days and never charged after the arrest, will have to wait to collect the money he's owed.

Like with Dent's settlement, Inkster property owners must shell out additional money on their summer tax bills to cover it.

City Treasurer Mark Stuhldreher said in an e-mail to the Free Press that Inkster will levy .47 mills to collect the money. That's in addition to the 6.45 mills already being levied to pay the $1,377,500 settlement reached with Dent.

For a home with a market value of $55,400 — the median value of a home in Inkster, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates — property owners will pay about $191.68 to cover both judgments.

There also will be a one-time property tax assessment forced on property owners throughout Wayne County this summer to satisfy a $49-million judgment in a pension case.

The median household income in Inkster is $26,512, and 38% of Inkster's residents live in poverty, census records show. And the city's insurance policy has a $2-million deductible, a city official previously said.

Inkster City Manager Richard Marsh Jr. referred messages seeking comment to Stuhldreher, who could not be reached to discuss the case Wednesday.

Christopher Trainor, one Acklin's attorneys, said there were settlement negotiations in the case with lawyers for the city.

"It was an excellent offer, and my client wanted to accept it," he said Wednesday.

Melendez was deposed last July and admitted to hitting Acklin twice — "once in his right eye and once in his left eye," according to a transcript.

But he gave a different version from Acklin of what led to the punches.

Melendez said he was looking for a suspect named "Johnny" in the area and wanted to investigate if the suspect was part of a group playing loud music just before 2 a.m. Acklin, Melendez said, ran from him and later swung at his face, making contact with his forearm.

"In my own defense, I struck Mr. Acklin with my right fist," Melendez said. He denied choking Acklin.

Acklin disputed Melendez's versions of events during his deposition. He said he was assaulted by two officers as others watched at a home on Isabelle Street. According to a court document, Acklin said he didn't run or resist arrest, didn't have drugs or attempt to fight police and never had a gun, which Melendez claimed.

Acklin, who court documents show pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer in 2009, said he went inside a home to use a bathroom, came out of the bathroom and police forced their way into the home. Acklin was taken to a hospital for treatment by police.

"Mr. Acklin's recollection of the arrest differs markedly from the events recounted by the defendants," U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain wrote in a court document. "However, even the defendants' recitations of the arrest contain subtle inconsistencies that this court cannot ignore."

Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, said prosecutors did not have a warrant request presented to them for Acklin after his 2011 arrest. And the prosecutor's office never received a request to investigate the actions of police, she said.

"We were not aware of the Acklin civil matter until recently, when it was found while doing a computer search," Miller said in an e-mail Wednesday.

In a separate case, criminal charges were filed against Melendez. He was charged with three felonies including misconduct in office, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and assault by strangulation in connection with what happened during Dent's traffic stop.

James Thomas, an attorney for Melendez, has said "an important issue in this case was whether or not officer Melendez was justified at the time that he engaged Mr. Dent."

Melendez is to be arraigned in Wayne County Circuit Court in that case Friday morning.

Staff Writer Eric D. Lawrence contributed to this report.

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com.