MT. CLEMENS, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Macomb County Executive says county prosecutor Pete Lucido is deflecting blame for his own office’s failure to alert the public to high-profile charges brought against two Warren police officers.
The skirmish is the latest salvo in a strange saga on how criminal charges against two cops were kept quiet for more than six months.
RELATED: Warren officials kept criminal charges, $400k settlement against 2 cops quiet
Last week, 7 Action News first revealed the August charges against officers Dammeon Player and Carlos Taylor stemming from a violent July 20 arrest happening in Center Line, outside of their jurisdiction.
Player and Taylor were seen on body camera pulling a man out of a semi-truck, throwing him to the ground and repeatedly tasing him in the rain.
The ugly arrest would lead to a $400,000 payment to the victim just 33 days later without a lawsuit even being filed. Player was charged with felonious assault and Taylor was accused of assault and battery.
The incident happened at a politically inconvenient time for Warren officials, just before the contentious August primary in Warren where longtime officials were fighting for the political lives.
When questioned by 7 Action News in February, then-police Commissioner Bill Dwyer said he was unfamiliar with the details of the case, then avoided answering questions about his officers conduct in the arrest.
Dwyer was fired by Mayor Lori Stone last week.
Macomb Prosecutor Pete Lucido, whose office charged both officers, also played a role in the charges remaining quiet because his officer never announced the charges publicly.
Questioned by 7 Action News last month, Lucido first claimed his office did spread word of the criminal case, even producing a paper copy of a press release announcing the charges.
But the press release was never sent out , and when Channel 7’s Ross Jones told Lucido that the station never received the release, Lucido later blamed the county’s IT staff.
That infuriated Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel.
“100% certainly, there was not a problem with the IT department,” Hackel told 7 Action News, who said an investigation revealed there was no problem found in the IT department.
“I don’t know the rationale or reasoning (for not publicizing the charges), but let’s face it: it’s an unfortunate reality of politics today,” Hackel said. “Public officials are more interested in figuring out how do they deal with the politics of things."
Lucido has denied that politics played any role in keeping the charges quiet, and says he has not shied away from charging police officers, including officer Matthew Rodriguez in June.
Both former officers are due in court tomorrow.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
