A teen who was assaulted and slammed by a Warren police officer during booking has filed a $50 million lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed this week by Fieger Law.
Matthew Rodriguez, 48, an officer with 14 years on the force, was charged Friday with assault and battery charges. Warren police announced Monday that he had been fired
According to the lawsuit, the teen suffered physical and mental damage due to excessive force, and the city of Warren failed to properly train the officer.
"Officer Matthew, with the specific intent to intimidate and/or harass Plaintiff, as a result of his race and/or ethnicity, caused physical contact with Plaintiff by striking him in the head and/or face with a fist and pulling him off the ground by his hair," the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also says that the two other officers in the video failed to intervene and help the teen.
“This is one of the most flagrant cases of police misconduct I’ve seen in my entire career as a trial attorney. The sheer violence and disregard for human life that these three officers showed is despicable and cannot be tolerated," said James Harrington of Fieger Law.
The incident happened early this week at the Warren police department.
The video shows the officer punching and grabbing the 19-year-old by his locs before slamming & launching him into his cell.
Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer says an investigation was launched after the two officers in the video stepped up and told a supervisor about the incident.
One officer was telling Rodriguez "That's enough" multiple times in an attempt to make the officer stop, Dwyer said. At first, they did not know why the officer was attacking him.
Within a week, the officer was arrested, charged, and put on unpaid administrative leave, said Dwyer. The officer in the video also was out of policy and was not wearing bodycam.
The officer has a lengthy history of alleged accessive force. He currently has two pending lawsuits.
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