GROSSE POINTE FARMS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Grosse Pointe Farms police are not commenting about body camera videos that show one of their officers yanking a man from the driver's seat of his truck and throwing him to the ground.
It happened seconds after a fellow officer told him that the driver may be having a medical emergency.
It appears police stopped the driver in his pickup truck because it was traveling very slowly along Lake Shore Drive.
"Show me your hands," the officer yelled at the man, then ordering him to open the door.
The door opens and one of the officers immediately said, "I think he might be diabetic. I don't know."
But seconds later, the officer on the driver's side rips Mohamad Rida Hassoun out of his seat and throws him to the ground.
Hassoun's left side hits the ground first and he can be heard moaning.
"They open the car door. They see that there's no weapon or anything of that sort. They could have escorted him out of the car. It was no basis to throw him to the pavement," said attorney Cyril Hall, who is representing Hassoun in a federal lawsuit against the Grosse Pointe Farms Department of Public Safety and three of their police officers.
Moments after Hassoun is handcuffed, an officer can be heard asking him if he's diabetic.
The officer who pulled Hassoun out of his truck can be heard complaining that he hurt his thumb. He also told a fellow officers, "I don't know if he's diabetic or what he's trying to do is trying to harm us, or himself."
The officer goes on about how much pain his thumb is in while telling another officer what his colleagues suspected, "I thought he might have been diabetic and then I started pulling him out and he's resisting. He wouldn't let go of the steering wheel."
The other police officer responds, "Well, he could still very well be diabetic."
Other officers then began to search Hassoun's truck, and it appears they don't find anything other than blue surgical masks hanging from his signal indicator and RedBull.
An officer remarks that it appears Hassoun was heading home from work.
"He was brutalized for no reason," Hall said. "I was shocked by the egregious nature of what occurred in that video. And if you look at it, you'll see what's depicted and they talk about the fact that Mr. Hassoun could have been suffering from diabetic situation and that that could have caused him to be lethargic."
Hassoun said his medical emergency stemmed from medication for his high blood pressure, but the encounter with police left him with serious injuries to his shoulders.
Hassoun has already had three surgeries on his left shoulder. He's expected to soon undergo treatment on his right shoulder.
The encounter that took place in September 2020 didn't end there. Hassoun was then charged with interference with a police officer and assault and battery.
Hall believes Grosse Pointe Farms charging his client with the two misdemeanors was an attempt to try to explain what officers did to him.
Hassoun said the entire event is still too painful to watch the bodycam footage obtained by his attorney. And it has destroyed his trust in law enforcement.
"I used to respect them a lot," he said. "I used to support them. Now, I prefer to not see the police."
Hall said the day before they were to begin trial on the two misdemeanor charges against Hassoun, the prosecutor filed a motion to dismiss the case.
We reached out to Robert Ihrie, prosecutor for Grosse Pointe Farms, for comment. So far, he's not responded.
Hassoun, who has lost his job as a manager of a dental lab, said his doctor has made adjustments to his blood pressure medication.
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