Bill "Robocop" Melendez pictured in the middle

Bill "Robocop" Melendez pictured in the middle

On this past January 28, Floyd Dent, a grandfather and 37-year veteran employee of Ford Motor Company had absolutely no idea that he was about to encounter one of the most vicious, violent, and corrupt police officers in modern American history. In a matter of five minutes, Floyd Dent's entire life would be turned upside down. Nearly choked to death, brutally punched full force in the head 16 times, and tasered over and over again, Floyd, a bloody mess, would soon be framed with the possession of crack cocaine—a drug he said he's never touched and that tests in the hospital soon proved he hadn't used. On top of that, he was charged with threatening and assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. The thing is, Floyd, now in the twilight of his life, was the wrong man to pull this on. He had never been in trouble a day in his life and what could easily stick to the stereotype of a younger man, just didn't add up with Floyd.

Once the world learned the identity of the officer who nearly killed Floyd, framed him for cocaine possession, and told lie after lie on the police report, it all made perfect sense. Bill Melendez is notorious in Detroit. In 2003, after a year-long joint investigation between the FBI and Detroit Police Department, Bill Melendez was indicted for corruption, falsifying police reports, and planting drugs/guns on suspects who had been illegally arrested. In the indictment, Melendez, nicknamed "Robocop" for his bodybuilding and excessive use of force, wasn't listed as a bit player, but as the ringleader and driving force behind the corruption. Putting their own lives at risk, scores of witnesses, including several African-American police officers testified against Melendez, but the case crumbled with jury nullification.

Twelve years ago, long before he nearly killed Floyd Dent, Officer Melendez had already cost the city millions of dollars in settlements and wracked up more brutality complaints than any other officer in all of Detroit. In 1996, Melendez shot and killed Lou Adkins, an unarmed man, who witnesses said was on the ground and posed no harm when Melendez shot him, execution style, 11 times. The city of Detroit paid $1 million to Adkins's family in a wrongful-death suit, but Melendez kept his job. Complaint after complaint on Bill Melendez has been filed for illegally planting evidence.

With all of these cases and complaints against Melendez, it's the false report he filed and the dash cam that captured his brutality against Floyd Dent that will be his undoing.

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