This week, former Michigan police officer William Melendez was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for beating an unarmed black man, Floyd Dent, during a routine traffic stop. The shocking videotaped beating, which went viral and made headlines all over the country last year, showed Melendez and his fellow officers choking and punching Dent, shooting him with a taser, planting drugs in his car, and giving out high fives during the whole shocking ordeal.
At Melendez's sentencing hearing this week, Judge Vonda Evans of the Wayne County Circuit Court scolded Melendez and the officers who accompanied him that day, calling them "a group of racist police officers" who carried out a "humiliating and degrading" act against Dent. The video of Judge Evans' sentencing statement immediately went viral, and it's easy to see why: it's a powerful condemnation of police violence and racial profiling, issued from an impassioned officer of the court.
According to NBC News, Judge Evans also scolded Melendez for neglecting his duty as a police officer, saying "You were so into your bravado that you forgot the eye of justice was recording you. You knew better. You were better trained than any of those officers out there. You were more experienced."
The video ends with Judge Evans wondering: "in 2015…how does this happen?"
(via Fox 2 Detroit)