A pair of plainclothes Detroit police officers approached Malice Green in front of a known drug house on the city’s west side.

When Green reportedly refused to drop what he was holding in his clinched hand, the beating began. At least one of the officers used his heavy steel flashlight to pound Green and more cops arrived.

An ambulance whisked the bloodied Green away. By the time he arrived at Detroit Receiving Hospital, he was dead.

Green instantly became a national face of police brutality. His deadly encounter with police 25 years ago today stirred racial tensions in the region, prompted protests and turned the 35-year-old unemployed steelworker into a household name.

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Suddenly, Detroit had its own version of the infamous Rodney King beating in Los Angeles — white police officers beating an unarmed black man. Months earlier, acquittals of cops involved in King's videotaped beating spurred rioting in L.A.

In Detroit, officials responded quickly to the Green incident: The city’s police chief condemned the actions of officers at the scene, suspending seven without pay within 24 hours. Also, Coleman A. Young, the city's first black mayor, said the police had “murdered” Green, outraging supporters of the officers.

Prosecutors though agreed with that early assessment and charged Officer Larry Nevers and his partner Walter Budzyn with second-degree murder for their roles in the incident at West Warren and 23rd.

David Goldberg, who teaches African-American studies at Wayne State University, called the case a very important moment in the city’s history.

“I think a lot of people were wondering if police could be brought to justice here,” he said.

In the days and weeks after his death, Green become a symbol of the police brutality. Flowers and other items piled up where the beating occurred and a local artist painted a mural that served as a shrine for two decades.

Green’s sister, Monica Green, 53, says recent cases of police brutality — pointing out the coverage of ex-Inkster officer William Melendez beating motorist Floyd Dent during a traffic stop — are painful reminders of her brother's death.

“We think about it all the time,” she said, adding she doesn’t believe much has changed because police brutality is “still going on.”

It's a national issue. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who helped prosecute the officers charged in Green's death, supports the creation of a national database to track cases of police brutality.

“I don’t think we’ve made much progress at all,” she said of where the country is 25 years later.

Green's case generated intense community interest and unprecedented media coverage. People held — and still hold — vastly different views about what happened that night, which was not caught on video.

“It was divisive in the sense that you had different opinions in the community,” said Doug Baker, a former Wayne County assistant prosecutor who also tried the cops' cases. “So it was debated, sometimes fiercely.”

Budzyn and Nevers had reputations of being hardworking, no-nonsense, good police officers to some. But others knew them for aggressive tactics in the neighborhoods they policed.

Witnesses said the savage beating started when the pair approached Green, who had cocaine and alcohol in his system, and he refused orders to open his clenched hand. Ambulances and more officers arrived at the scene as the beating continued. Green received at least a dozen blows to his head.

One observer, an emergency medical technician, messaged a supervisor with a question: “What should I do if I witness police brutality/murder?”

Hours after Green’s death, Police Chief Stanley Knox told reporters: “This incident is disgraceful and a total embarrassment.”

He fired four officers charged criminally in the case, prompting more outrage from some in the community, who maintain the cops received unfair treatment from the start. Knox, who retired from the department in 1993, did not return a message to talk about the case 25 years later.

Prosecutors charged Nevers and Budzyn with second-degree murder charges and Officer Robert Lessnau with assault with intent to do bodily harm. Sgt. Freddie Douglas, a supervisor and the only black officer at the scene, was also charged, but a judge tossed the felony manslaughter charge against him and he didn't stand trial with the others.

The criminal charges against the cops further divided the community, in many cases along racial lines.

In Detroit's neighborhoods, many thought the charges against the officers were appropriate. Out in the suburbs and inside area police departments, many believed they were overcharged. And some felt strongly that the cops shouldn’t have been charged at all.

There was nationwide interest in the case and the nearly three-month trial in 1993 was broadcast on Court TV.

During the trial, medical experts fiercely debated whether cocaine in Green’s system played a role in his death. The doctor who performed Green's autopsy determined blows to Green’s head killed him, which defense witnesses disputed.

While race played out in public perception and elicited anger from many in the community who felt it was a factor, prosecutors didn’t make it an issue because there wasn’t evidence suggesting it was a motive.

“Our evidence was fairly compelling,” said Baker, who is now an attorney for the city. “Our evidence was showing the officer continually striking this person who’s not resisting and not fighting back. And it’s seen by a variety of people … there was a lot of agreement on what they saw.”

As the community waited for verdicts, police officers stood by at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.

Recorder's Court juries, made up of Detroit residents, convicted Nevers and Budzyn of second-degree murder.

They went to prison, but successfully appealed their cases.

Among the issues: jurors were shown the movie "Malcolm X," during a break in testimony, which shows officers beating King in L.A. and jurors knew the city may be bracing for rioting if jurors didn’t convict.

Looking back, Goldberg, the Wayne State associate professor, said he thinks Detroit would have “exploded” similarly to what happened in L.A. months earlier or Detroit in 1967 if the cases ended differently.

Budzyn was retried in 1998 and Nevers in 2000. By that time, Detroit Recorder’s Court had been abolished, and jurors were drawn from throughout Wayne County. The juries convicted both officers of involuntary manslaughter during the retrials.

Lessnau, who opted to have a judge decide his fate instead of jurors and was acquitted in 1993, returned to the Detroit Police Department. He retired in 2012 as a police officer, according to city records. The Free Press couldn’t reach Lessnau for comment.

Douglas also returned to the force briefly before retiring from the department. Prosecutors argued he could have saved Green’s life by stopping the beating but a judge said the mortal blows could have happened before the sergeant arrived. Douglas later moved to Alabama and died in 2013, according to an online obituary.

His former attorney, David Griem, has said King's beating in L.A. and the riots there played into the decision to charge his client.

Worthy, now the county’s top prosecutor, told the Free Press she still gets stopped about once a month while out in the community by people who remember the trial and thank her.

“I think it gave people, at least for a time, a sense of justice,” she said. “It gave them some hope in the criminal justice system.”

But it also created issues for prosecutors, who regularly work with police — many of whom believed or still believe — that officers were overcharged in the case or shouldn’t have been charged at all.

Worthy said she lost many of her police friends — some have not spoken to her since the trial. She has regained the trust of others.

Her boss at the time, Prosecutor John O’Hair, had a hard time during the next election cycle in the suburbs, Worthy recalled. She stands by his decision to charge.

“He did the right thing,” Worthy said. “He absolutely did the right thing.”

Others connected to the case said Nevers and Budzyn didn’t get a fair shake and their careers were unfairly destroyed. Nevers maintained his innocence until his death in 2and Budzyn still maintains his actions were legal, though he has stayed away from the limelight and didn't return a message to comment.

Meanwhile, new people have moved into the west side neighborhood where Green died.

Some who live there now don't realize what transpired in the area decades earlier. Others, like Green’s relatives, will never forget.

Green's niece, LaToshia Green, 30, said she vividly remembers pictures displayed in court showing her uncle's head busted up and still thinks about him daily.

"He loved his nieces and nephews," she said last month. "His sisters and his mama."

Green's family sued within days of his death, and the city quickly moved to settle for $5.25 million. The money was disbursed among more than a dozen relatives including his widow, two daughters, mother, father, three stepchildren, and his grandmother. Lawyers also received a chunk.

A quarter century later, the mural of Green painted by artist Bennie White Jr. Ethiopia Israel is gone and the intense emotions surrounding the case have subsided, but what happened on Nov. 5, 1992, remains a permanent chapter in the city’s history, divisive to this day.

Nestled in a Clinton Township cemetery, Green's headstone is engraved with a message: “In his untimely death, he shall live forever in history."

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144. Follow on Twitter: @elishaanderson

MALICE WAYNE (FLY) GREEN, 35, worked at a steel mill near Chicago for more than a decade but left the job several months before his death. He had plans to rejoin his estranged wife in North Carolina when he was killed, relatives previously said.

Green graduated from Detroit Western High School in 1975, had two daughters and three stepchildren. He had prior encounters with police, including an incident where he pleaded guilty to drunken driving and attempting to flee police and another where he pleaded guilty to battery on an officer.

In 1992, his family described Green as a hardworking man who wouldn't pick a fight or back down from a conflict.

LARRY NEVERS, a Detroit police officer who admitted to repeatedly hitting Green with his flashlight, died in 2013 at age 72. He had been ill many years before that with emphysema and lung cancer.

Hours after the incident unfolded, he told the Free Press: “I must’ve done something wrong — a guy died.” Later, he testified the force he used “could not cause serious injury.”

Nevers claimed he struck Green because he feared Green was going to take his gun. A Detroit Recorder's Court jury convicted Nevers of second-degree murder in 1993 and he was sentenced to 12-25 years in prison. He served part of the prison term before winning a new trial on appeal. Nevers was convicted in the second trial in 2000 of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 7-15 years in prison.

Throughout the remainder of his life, Nevers fought to clear his name. In 2007, he published a book titled: “Good Cops, Bad Verdict How Racial Politics Convicted Us of Murder.”

“He always maintained his innocence,” said John Goldpaugh, the attorney who represented him during his first trial. “And that was until the very end.”

WALTER BUDZYN, 72, Nevers' former partner, lives in Warren, and did not respond to a message to talk. He has shunned the spotlight since the case catapulted him into it.

Budzyn served nearly four years in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder in his first trial. After his conviction was overturned on appeal, he was retried in 1998, found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and later sentenced to time served.

During his first trial, Budzyn claimed he didn’t hit Green or see his beating, despite testimony contradicting that.

The prosecution grilled Budzyn on the stand, questioning how he could find four rocks of cocaine at the scene but not see a 5-foot-10 man being killed in front of him.

Jim Howarth, who represented Budzyn in his retrial, said the case “destroyed the career and reputation of a very good police officer.”

DOUG BAKER, a former Wayne County assistant prosecutor, won convictions against Nevers and Budzyn, both in their initial trial and later in their retrials. Baker, who has prosecuted numerous high-profile cases during his career, said there was more coverage and community interest in Green's case than any other at the time. Green is a lawyer for the City of Detroit now.

KYM WORTHY, tried the cases against Nevers and Budzyn with Baker in 1993. Worthy, who later became a Wayne County Circuit Court judge and is now Wayne County Prosecutor, said the cases gave people an increased belief in the criminal justice system .

BENNIE WHITE JR. ETHIOPIA ISRAEL, 80, of Detroit painted a mural of Green shortly after Green's death in the area where he died. Initially, the artist just wanted to visit the site and didn’t have any intention of painting Green’s portrait. Then he said he saw Green’s blood in the street, a rose at the scene and the nearby building and decided to do more.

The famous work, which served as a shrine for decades, was repeatedly vandalized and the artist created a second piece of Green in 2011, which he keeps at home.

In 2013, the city demolished the abandoned party store with the mural.

“I knew they were going to destroy the building soon or later,” Israel said.