'Like squishing a grape:' Man awarded $4M after suing Clinton Township officer who punched him

CLINTON TWP, Mich. (FOX 2) - A federal jury has awarded $4 million after finding a Clinton Township police officer guilty of using excessive force on a man who was running from the officer.

Big picture view:

The incident happened in 2021, and now in 2025, according to the victim's attorney, justice has been served with a $4 million verdict. But Daniel Reiff’s life will never be the same.

Officer Broc Setty with the Clinton Township Police Department responded to a call from a suspicious person in 2021.

Timeline:

According to attorney Jon Marko, the call came in on the non-emergency police line from a neighbor reporting a suspicious person cutting through yards. Marko says his client, Daniel Reiff, had just gotten off a bus and was walking to a friend’s house. When Reiff saw police closing in, he admittedly ran due to his anxiety and history of drug problems.

When Officer Setty caught up with him, Reiff was taken to the ground. While on the ground, a jury found Officer Setty used excessive force — punching him in the eye, breaking bones, and ultimately causing Reiff to lose his eye completely.

"The police rolled up on him — there were all kinds of cop cars — and he got scared. He said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’" said attorney Jon Marko. "They tried to stop him and he took off running. Now, maybe he shouldn’t have done that, but he didn’t deserve to lose his eyesight and be brutally maimed for the rest of his life — and that’s what happened. The defendant chased him down. My client fell — it’s on video — and got sucker-punched right in the face by the police officer. He broke a tooth and cracked bones, and the doctor said it was like squishing a grape… that’s what happened to his eye."

What's next:

Reiff’s attorney says the medical bills were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in addition to awarding $4 million, the jury said Officer Setty acted with evil intent in this case. 

Attorney Jon Marko is hopeful this will serve as an example to ensure officers around the area are properly trained on how to de-escalate situations like this in the future.