Current:Home > Contact-usDetroit officer to stand trial after photojournalists were shot with pellets during a 2020 protest-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Detroit officer to stand trial after photojournalists were shot with pellets during a 2020 protest
View Date:2024-12-24 00:46:41
A Detroit police corporal accused of shooting three photojournalists with rubber pellets while they covered protests against police brutality has been ordered to stand trial.
Daniel Debono is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 28 in Wayne County Circuit Court on felonious assault charges, the county prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.
Shortly after midnight on May 31, 2020, in downtown Detroit, MLive.com photojournalist Nicole Hester and two independent photojournalists, Seth Herald and Matthew Hatcher, encountered Debono and two other officers.
Each of the photojournalists was wearing press credentials, identified themselves as news media and raised their hands as they asked to cross the street, Prosecutor Kym Worthy said at the time.
Debono, dressed in riot gear, struck all three with rubber pellets that inflicted bruises and other injuries.
The photojournalists were covering the protest in downtown Detroit, which was sparked by the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Most of the protesters at the time had already dispersed from the area where the photojournalists were shot.
Then-Detroit Police Chief James Craig suspended Debono.
A 36th District Court judge dismissed the case at the officer’s preliminary examination in 2021, ruling that a state statute gave Debono immunity from prosecution. That was appealed by the prosecutor’s office and a Wayne County Circuit Court judge reversed the lower court’s decision which was appealed by the defense.
Last March, Michigan’s Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court ruling and remanded the case back to U.S. District Court in Detroit. The appeals court determined the statute provides a legal defense at trial instead of immunity, the prosecutor’s office said.
Debono’s attorney Pam Szydlak said Tuesday night that police officers are “put in impossible situations.”
“It is hard to imagine any other profession where you are facing so many possibilities of being charged with a crime for your actions or your failure to act,” she told The Associated Press in an email.
Debono was carrying out orders, she added.
“If he had failed to do as ordered, he would have been charged with neglect of duty and possible other crimes,” Szydlak said. “On this night numerous projectiles were being thrown at the officers, including, railroad spikes, mortars, bottles, rocks, bricks, bottles of urine, and bottles of bleach/ammonia, etc. An unlawful assembly had been declared on numerous occasions, but the complainants refused to leave.”
_____
Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan.
veryGood! (77)
Related
- Olivia Munn Says She “Barely Knew” John Mulaney When She Got Pregnant With Their Son
- Police arrest 75-year-old man suspected of raping, killing woman in 1973 cold case
- A Path Through Scorched Earth Teaches How a Fire Deficit Helped Fuel California’s Conflagrations
- Collapsed rail bridge gets first of two controlled blasts in clean up after severe flooding
- ‘Emilia Pérez’ wouldn’t work without Karla Sofía Gascón. Now, she could make trans history
- The internet’s love for ‘very demure’ content spotlights what a viral trend can mean for creators
- George Santos due in court, expected to plead guilty in fraud case, AP source says
- 2 dead, at least 100 evacuated after flooding sweeps through Connecticut
- 1 dead, 2 children injured in wrong-way crash; driver suspected of DWI: Reports
- Harvey Weinstein will not return to California until New York retrial is complete, DA says
Ranking
- Caitlin Clark's gold Nike golf shoes turn heads at The Annika LPGA pro-am
- Beyoncé launches new whiskey with Moët Hennessy, and it's named after a family member
- The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Cast Is More Divided Than Ever in Explosive Season 5 Trailer
- Georgia sheriff’s deputy shot while serving a search warrant
- Georgia House Republicans stick with leadership team for the next two years
- Horoscopes Today, August 18, 2024
- Danielle Fishel’s Husband Jensen Karp Speaks Out After She Shares Breast Cancer Diagnosis
- Love Island USA’s Kaylor Martin Is Done Crying Over Aaron Evans
Recommendation
-
The Best Corduroy Pants Deals from J.Crew Outlet, Old Navy, Levi’s & More, Starting at $26
-
Nebraska’s special legislative session is high on conflict, low on progress to ease property taxes
-
Shiloh Jolie granted request to drop Pitt from her last name: Reports
-
Horoscopes Today, August 18, 2024
-
Paraguay vs. Argentina live updates: Watch Messi play World Cup qualifying match tonight
-
How Nevada aims to increase vocational education
-
Taylor Swift and her mom meet Southport stabbing victims backstage at Eras Tour
-
Regulators approve plans for new Georgia Power plants driven by rising demand