‘Nobody Did the Right Thing’: Passenger’s Refusal to be Searched During Traffic Stop Led to His Violent Arrest and Hospitalization with Brain Damage, His Lawsuit Against Five Michigan Officers Claims

A Michigan man has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Grand Rapids and its police department, accusing them of using excessive force. His lawyers allege the incident was racially motivated saying, they have to ask, “if this atrocity would have happened had his skin been white.”

On Thursday, April 28, Fahirri Jasmall Dannah, 44, filed a claim in U.S. District Court accusing the Grand Rapids Police Department and five of its officers of violating his civil rights after beating him unconscious following a traffic stop in November 2019 that left him with brain damage, a cut on his head, and a dislocated shoulder.

The five officers named in the lawsuit are Anthony Barberino, Harvey Barker, Zachary Kaiser, Melissa Moninger, and Michael Spees, who alleges the habit of using excessive force is because the department officers are improperly trained and not disciplined for brutality. Though the lawsuit does not suggest all of the officers participated, it lists them all because no one did the right thing, according to the lawyer.

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“We want to know why all those other officers who were there, five officers, why nobody did the right thing,” Jon Marko, the lawyer representing Dannah, said. “Justice looks like holding the people responsible and accountable for their actions and hopefully making just a little bit of change in Grand Rapids.

“The deprivations (of Danna’s constitutional rights) were caused by the series of deliberately indifferent policies, customs, and established practices, including inadequate training, by the City of Grand Rapids,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit reveals Dannah was not driving when the car was pulled over for speeding down 11th Street and having an object dangling from the rearview mirror. He was in the passenger seat.

The female driver of the car stopped and permitted officers to search the vehicle. She then went to the back of the officer’s patrol SUV, according to FOX 2.

When the cops demanded to search Dannah he refused, the claim states. He believed the officers had “no probable cause” to conduct the search.

Source: ‘Nobody Did the Right Thing’: Passenger’s Refusal to be Searched During Traffic Stop Led to His Violent Arrest and Hospitalization with Brain Damage, His Lawsuit Against Five Michigan Officers Claims