Detroit police defend use of force in Greektown arrest of couple

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The arrest of a couple in downtown Detroit is the subject of an investigation and possible legal action.

Markquel Stewart and Leah Williams lawyered up after Detroit police used force to take them into custody in Greektown on May 21st.

"I was actually in fear, the way she came up to the car, and actually when they came up to the car and opened the door, my fear became reality because they started punching me in my face," said Stewart.

They say police arrested them to get control of the couple’s cellphone, which had evidence of officers attacking them without cause-pulling out some of Williams' hair during the arrest.

FOX 2: "You don’t know why they came to you guys?"

"We were having a small altercation that was it," said Williams.

"It wasn’t an altercation it was a discussion," their attorney Michael Fortner said.

"Basically yeah, a discussion," Williams said. "And with that discussion, I guess they feared something else was going on."

Interim Detroit Police Chief James White says surveillance video shows Stewart attacking Williams inside their car.

"They witnessed a crime in progress," he said. "The videos that I reviewed, it’s very clear that she’s taken a blow, multiple blows to her face, her head area."

Markquel Stewart is on the ground after police say he resisted arrest after assaulting the woman in his car.

Police body camera video shows passersby pointing at the couple as it happened, alerting officers who rushed in to intervene.

On video a woman says to the couple, "He punched you in your face. We seen him and you’re going to try take up for him, we’re trying to help you."

Police say Williams was arrested because she tried to keep officers from getting Stewart out of the car.

"These people have rights," said Fortner. "They (police) had absolutely no business opening up their car door, they had no business attacking this man, they had no business attacking her, no business going through her phone. Everything they did was wrong."

Fortner says police fractured Stewart’s shoulder during the arrest, but police say it was Stewart who injured an officer - leg sweeping him as he and other cops tried to take Stewart to the ground.

"I was in fear the whole time," Stewart said. "And when this officer came and grabbed me, he’s trying to slam to the ground. If I slam on that ground, my face hit that ground, I’m on blood thinners, I’m going to bleed out."

A bystander’s video of that scuffle trended on social media. The officer was taken to the hospital with injuries to his head and shoulder.

White says the other officers showed great restraint.

Markquel Stewart grapples with police before leg sweeping an officer he says was trying to slam him on the ground. DPD says he resisted arrest after assaulting the woman in his car.

"Too many times in this country we’ve seen that a situation like that could’ve turned really, really bad," said White. "And the officers, they set up a perimeter, they kept people out of the scene. When the subject was taken into custody and handcuffed, he was immediately picked up off the ground.

"As you saw, they did not negatively engage the subject beyond that."

Stewart says he was jailed for three days, and released without charges but police say they’re resubmitting a warrant to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office with their additional video footage as they pursue charges against him.

His girlfriend was given a ticket for disorderly conduct. Police say they are still investigating the incident.