Dearborn Heights resident Joseph Saad, age 61, was acquitted on charges of assaulting a police officer and obstruction of justice in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit on November 22.

Joseph Saad was acquitted on Nov. 22 from charges of assaulting a police officer and obstruction of justice stemming from a summer incident. Photo Courtesy of Nick Haidous

The charges had stemmed from an incident involving Dearborn Heights police in what the family alleged was a case of retaliation against them in July 2010 following a lawsuit the Saad family filed against the police department a week earlier in the Eastern District Court of Michigan.

The Saad family’s lawsuit included allegations that Dearborn Heights Police officers and police dogs entered the Saad residence without a warrant or consent; Zihra Saad and her 86-year-old husband Mahmoud were listed as the plaintiffs.

The Saad family also alleged that Dearborn Heights police allegedly entered the Saad residence illegally, where they shot Joseph Saad twice in the back with a taser gun. According to Nick Haidous, one of Saad’s attorneys, officers admitted he had been shot twice after another Dearborn Heights police officer originally said Saad had been shot just once.

Saad’s mother Zihra, age 78, was also hospitalized after the second incident due to bruising, heart palpitations and severe body pain. The family has alleged that she was dragged from the house by a female Dearborn Heights police officer. They have not filed a lawsuit in response to the second incident, although Haidous said they are considering it.

 Zihra Saad was also acquitted of similar charges during the preliminary exam stage in late August based on the second incident.

The Saad family’s first case against Dearborn Heights police is still pending.