Jury Finds White Euclid Cop Guilty of Misdemeanor Assault for Repeatedly Punching a Black Man and Hitting his Head on the Pavement after a Traffic Stop, Never Had a Chance to Comply
/From [HERE] A jury found Euclid police officer Michael Amiott guilty of assaulting a Black motorist during a violent 2017 traffic stop that garnered international attention and thrusted Euclid into the national conversation about police brutality.
Amiott was convicted Friday night in Euclid Municipal Court of one count each of assault and interfering with civil rights of Richard Hubbard III during the Aug. 12, 2017 traffic stop that was captured on cellphone video that went viral, Euclid Municipal Court Clerk Keith Hurley confirmed. He was acquitted of one count of assault.
Amiott faces a potential sentence of up to 360 days in jail on the two first-degree misdemeanors. He is also eligible for probation.
He will be sentenced at a later date. Retired Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Guy Reece presided over the trial after Euclid Municipal Court Judge Patrick Gallagher recused himself from the case.
The jury reached its verdict Friday after deliberating for nearly five hours.
The trial began Monday and included testimony from both Amiott and Hubbard, as well as several other police officers.
25-year-old Richard Hubbard III was pulled over on E 228th St. just before 10:30 a.m. for "a moving/traffic violation." The video showed the white cop repeatedly punching the black man and hitting his head on pavement appears to show a different sequence of events than police had originally described.
The initial statement from police in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid said Richard Hubbard III, had refused Officer Michael Amiott's orders to "face away" after getting out of his car Aug. 12 and then began resisting. But the video shows Amiott not giving Hubbard a chance to comply.
The video of the incident showed Amiott kneed Hubbard, tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face and body several times. Hubbard was handcuffed and taken to a police cruiser, while his girlfriend screamed at Amiott to stop.
Euclid Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer-Gail fired Amiott in the months after the video went viral. An arbitrator later ruled that he should be reinstated.
Hubbard testified Monday and said Amiott slammed his head on the ground and that he didn’t know why Amiott used such force against him, WKYC reports. Hubbard also testified that he believed he was racially profiled during his arrest, WKYC reports.
Amiott took the stand on Wednesday and accused Hubbard of resisting arrest, WJW Channel 8 reports.
The city paid Hubbard $450,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit.
The white cop has a history of assaulting Black people. Including when he was forced to resign from the Mentor Police Department in 2013 after he lied about why he stopped a driver for a suspended license. Euclid hired him shortly after. [MORE]
Amiott was also accused in 2017 of pepper-spraying a man who started recording Amiott as he searched and handcuffed juveniles. The same year he was accused of throwing a 16-year-old girl to the ground and placed his knee on the girl’s back during an incident at Euclid’s library.
A man sued Amiott in 2017, accusing the officer of kicking him in the face and pepper-spraying him. The city settled that lawsuit for $40,000.
He was also accused of pistol-whipping a driver in 2016 during a traffic stop and received a written reprimand.
Amiott’s legal troubles continued even as he was on trial. A lawsuit filed in federal court in Cleveland accused him of injuring a man he arrested by driving recklessly.
The incident happened during the July 6, 2020 arrest of Tyrez Bowden, 24, according to the lawsuit filed by attorneys Brian Scherf and Sergey Kats of Bedford.
Amiott failed to properly secure Bowden in Amiott’s police vehicle and drove recklessly on the drive to the city jail. He nearly hit a pedestrian, causing Bowden to be “thrown throughout the vehicle.”
The stop and other reckless driving caused Bowden to stuffer several physical and psychological injuries, according to the lawsuit.
Bowden had been arrested on a charge of improperly handling a gun in a car. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Monday to 17 months in prison.