Judge: No Boot Camp in Ex-Inkster Cop's Brutality Sentence

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INKSTER, MI – Former Inkster police officer William Melendez may not be able to spend his sentence on police brutality and misconduct in office charges in a boot camp — a possibility Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans left open in her February sentencing order.

On April 4, Evans modified her order and said she was “objecting to boot camp at this time,” but would reconsider the option for Melendez to serve his sentence of 13 months to 10 years.

Melendez, 47, was convicted on charges stemming from the beating of Floyd Dent during a January 2015 traffic stop. Dash cam video showed Melendez punching Dent in the head 16 times in the internationally sensational case.

In an interview with the Free Press, Thomas said it’s unclear why Evans changed her mind.

“It was certainly nothing that Melendez had done,” he said.

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office has until Wednesday to file a brief in response to the request.

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During Melendez’s sentencing, Evans said the dashboard camera “designed to protect you ended up being what convicted you.”

Dent, who was hospitalized for two days, was charged with resisting and obstructing and possession of cocaine, but those charges were dismissed. Dent maintained the drugs were planted, and later settled a lawsuit against the city of Inkster for $1.4 million.

Before beating Dent until he was unconscious, Melendez had been named in a dozen lawsuits questioning his conduct as a police officer. As a member of the Detroit Police Department, he cost the city more than $1 million in settlements and was the subject of more citizen complaints than any other officer in the city, according to media reports.

By the time a lawsuit involving the 1996 shooting death of an unarmed man, who was shot 11 times in a traffic stop, was settled in 1999, Melendez had been sued four additional times for alleged use of unreasonable force.

This screenshot from Inkster Police Department dashcam video shows the January 2015 arrest of Floyd Dent.