Second suit filed alleging brutality at MGM Grand

Second suit filed alleging brutality at MGM Grand
Robert Snell/ The Detroit News

Detroit— A man sued Detroit police officers in federal court Thursday, claiming he was beaten with a billy club and choked into unconsciousness at the MGM Grand Casino, the second federal case filed in recent days against officers involving a skirmish at the downtown hot spot.

The lawsuit, filed by Detroiter DaJuan Moncrief, alleges officers beat him with a billy club, broke three ribs, choked him until he passed out and falsely accused him of crimes, since dropped, to cover up the alleged beating.

The lawsuit accuses Officers William Brewster and John Appling of excessive force and violating his due-process rights. Moncrief's lawyer, Jonathan Marko, seeks unspecified damages.

Marko subpoenaed the casino surveillance video.

"I saw the video and am shocked," Marko said.

A police spokeswoman declined to comment.

The federal lawsuit comes days after a Livonia man sued two Detroit officers, claiming he was sucker-punched while being escorted out of the MGM Grand Casino, an incident captured on a surveillance camera.

The Moncrief case involves an incident Jan 29 at MGM.

Moncrief, 34, who had rented a room at the casino hotel with his girlfriend, was waiting in the lobby for a cab.

The officers approached them and ordered him to go back to his room, according to the lawsuit.

They told him to go outside and use another entrance. Moncrief wanted to use the lobby because it was cold, but the officers pushed him outside, according to the lawsuit.

Moncrief said he was choked by the police, shoved to the ground and hit with a billyclub.

Also Thursday in a separate case, a jury cleared two officers, an investigator and the city in a civil lawsuit filed in federal court by a prominent Detroit businessman. The businessman, Town Pump Tavern and Centaur martini lounge owner Sean Harrington, alleged unlawful detention, excessive force and subjecting him to filthy jail conditions, according to a judgment filed Thursday.

The jury said Harrington failed to prove his case.