GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A man who, while being arrested, landed on and broke a Grand Rapids police officer's leg returned to court on Thursday.
At 61st District Court in Grand Rapids, attorneys continued to argue whether the man, charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer causing serious impairment of a body function, deserved to be bound over to 17th Circuit Court for trial.
The man's defense team also claimed a "bet" among officers played a role in his arrest.
On June 19, Grand Rapids police officers initiated a traffic stop near Kalamazoo Avenue and Dickinson Street. Per the department, the driver had failed to properly use a turn signal.
As seen in body camera video, an officer then approached the car after it had stopped and witnessed Emran Sharifi, sitting in the passenger seat, not wearing a seatbelt.
"You don't have a seatbelt on," the officer said. "You don't have one on, you're going to have to provide your name."
Sharifi refused to provide identification.
"Why are you asking for my name? I'm not even driving," he said.
Less than a minute later and after continued refusals to give his name, Sharifi was arrested.
"You're under arrest," the officer said.
As seen in cell phone video, GRPD officers attempted to take Sharifi into custody by pulling his arms, legs and head and hitting him in the face and legs.
"I'm going to sue you," said Sharifi, bracing his feet against the floor and his hands against the ceiling, refusing to leave the car. "Get off of me!"
After a struggle that lasted for around a minute, officers were able to pull Sharifi from the car and, as they together fell backward and to the ground, Sharifi's body rolled up on the leg of one of the officers, causing it to break.
On Thursday, the prosecution said Sharifi's refusal to provide identification and comply with the arrest were a "factual, proximate cause" to the officer's injury.
Conversely, the defense said officers "acted unlawfully" as they could not prove whether Sharifi was not wearing a seatbelt while the car was in motion, and therefore had no right to arrest him.
This, the defense said, was a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects from unreasonable search and seizure.
The defense also claimed officers, at the time of Sharifi's arrest, were trying to fulfill a bet.
In body camera video from after the arrest, Grand Rapids police officer Richard Lee, who testified Thursday, can be heard talking to other officers about a "quota."
"We joked that we weren't going to get our quota," Lee says in the video.
"He wants to get a number," he continues to say in the video. "He knew we were going to lose."
In response, another officer asks if the "quota" was for one day or one weekend.
"Three days," Lee says. "He wanted 20."
"Arrests?" The officer asks.
"Yeah." Lee says.
In another body camera video, Lee, appearing to talk to the injured officer as he is loaded onto an ambulance, says, "You did this because you knew you were losing."
"This is my way out," the injured officer appears to say in response.
"This was your way out," Lee says.
On Thursday, the defense said, "This is what results from a culture of bets and quotas, and officers who treat policing as a contact sport."
Lee testified the quota "wasn't a real bet."
A determination on whether Sharifi's case will be bound over will be made on September 22.
The Grand Rapids Police Department declined to comment on the court proceedings, "as not to impact the integrity of the proceedings."
At the time of the arrest, though, the department did release a statement, saying Sharifi had "multiple opportunities" to comply before officers performed a, "trained extraction technique," including a "palm heel strike."
