River Rouge Officers involved in Excessive Force Arrest of a minor still working

RIVER ROUGE – During a Press conference on Saturday, April 17, the Western Wayne County NAACP and the Michigan NAACP Youth and College Division joined with local community members and clergy to demand the City and Police Department take some action on this arrest. "The climate that the country is facing, dictates that police actions should be addressed before someone gets killed. The actions over the last year shows that in a few seconds things can go from calm to chaotic", President Steward said. The main concern that was addressed is that the officers who aggressively pulled the 17 year old girl, Maliyah Clary, from the SUV that she was driving is still on patrol in River Rouge.

It has been two months since the arrest occurred. During a meeting between the Western Wayne County NAACP leadership and Mayor Michael Bowdler; when asked why are the officers still on patrol, Bowdler stated that they are waiting to hear from the city's attorney before any action will be taken. That is the same response that the Director of Public Safety Roberto Cruz gave on Monday, April 12th during a conversation with WWC NAACP President Gina Steward.

On Saturday after the press conference, members of the community joined with family members for a rally and march to voice their outrage. The Michigan State Conference of the NAACP agrees that the officers should be removed from the streets until an investigation is completed and appropriate action is taken.

Media footage showed at least two officers aggressively pulling the minor from the driver's seat of the SUV in February and throwing her to the ground to handcuff her. She was cited for reckless driving, resisting arrest, and disobeying a stop sign and arrested . At the time of release of the video, the statement made from River Rouge Police Department was that since the family hadn't filed a complaint, the officers had not been formally disciplined.

The Western Wayne County NAACP will continue to follow up on this issue and expand to investigate the Use of Force process that the City of River Rouge Police Department follows. Since this response seems to be slow, they want to make sure that this type of police behavior hasn't been occurring in the past.

No further update was given from River Rouge before press deadline. The main phone number for River Rouge - 313-842-4200. The contact emails are [email protected] and [email protected]

WWCNAACP can be contacted at 734-506-0676 or [email protected].

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/river-rouge-police-accused-of-excessive-force-on-teen-girl-in-traffic-stop