A young Michigan man is suing police officers after they forcefully arrested him outside his home for turning without a signal.
Detroit's WDIV reported Wednesday that Taylor, Michigan's Cody Meredith was only 18 when officers followed him as he was arriving home very early one May morning in 2016. They claimed the young man braked hard to avoid running a stop sign and then turned without a turn signal into his own driveway, where they turned on their sirens and approached him.
"Get back in the car, man," one of the officers is heard yelling at Meredith in the dash camera footage, which began as soon as the lights turned on. They then ran towards him when he didn't re-enter his vehicle.
"Get up off of me!" Meredith yelled as two officers grabbed him.
What took place next is not visible on the dashcam footage, but WDIV noted that it is "the core" of the young man's lawsuit against the officers and the Taylor Police Department.
"Look at that: one, two, three right to his face," Amir Makled, Meredith's attorney, said while reviewing the footage with a WDIV reporter. "They still haven't told him what he did wrong."
At one point, an officer tells Meredith to "shut the f*ck up" and calls him a "piece of sh*t." At another, the young man is heard yelling for his mother while being beaten by the officers.
Meredith said the officers Tasered him, and video footage from the ensuing fight shows them tackling him to the ground and using what he and Makled say is excessive force. Taylor Police claimed the officers used such force because the man was resisting arrest, and that they believed he was another suspect who had an outstanding warrant — despite not being wanted himself.
Cyril Hall, another partner at Makled's law firm, told WDIV that at least one of the officers in the case has been sued for use of excessive force before. Though officers found a small amount of cannabis in Meredith's car, Hall said they "had no right" to search the vehicle.
"They're police officers [and] I am a black male," Meredith told the Detroit TV station. "That answers your question."
Watch footage of the arrest below, via WDIV.