A frame still from the video that went viral this week.

DEARBORN — The Law Office of Cyril Hall is filing a civil rights lawsuit against the Dearborn Police Department for an altercation with a local man that was captured on video by a police dash cam. 

The video was obtained exclusively by The Arab American News this week courtesy of The Law Office of Cyril Hall and has since spread on social media, causing a mixed community reaction.

The video features Ali Baydoun, 28, who barely speaks English and suffers from a mental disability. He came to the U.S. in 2008 and never completed his education in Lebanon or resumed it here. 

The incident occurred on December 7, 2013, when Baydoun was riding his bike home from work around 4 a.m. on Gould Street. He is a dishwasher at Mango’s, a local hookah lounge located in east Dearborn that doesn’t close until 3 a.m. on busy nights. 

The police dash cam captures Baydoun on the side of the street, apparently fixing the chain on his bicycle as a police car approaches him. Officer John Balowski steps out of the police vehicle and asks Baydoun for his I.D. 

Baydoun can be heard muttering “no,” in response to Balowski. The police officer then asks Baydoun “where are you coming from,” and Baydoun’s response is “I don’t know.”

Balowski then proceeds to tell Baydoun that he is going to pat him down for weapons. Baydoun, who appears panicked, continues to mutter “no no no.” The officer then aggressively puts Baydoun in a headlock and slams him to the ground. 

Baydoun can be heard screaming as he’s pinned to the ground by the police officer. Within just a minute, a second officer arrives to the scene. Officer Aaron Morandini assists Balowski as they continue wrestling Baydoun to the ground.

The two officers proceed to drag Baydoun out of the dash cam’s view but can be seen using their legs to kick him. Balowski screams “Stop fighting!” as Baydoun continues to scream. Within just a few minutes, several more police vehicles arrive to the scene and huddle around Baydoun, who remains pinned to the ground.

Baydoun is eventually handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle. As the police officer is driving the vehicle, Baydoun can be heard crying for his mom on the video.

In total, eight police officers were at the scene attempting to arrest Baydoun. 

However, Dearborn Police did not drive Baydoun to the police station to be booked. Instead, they dropped him off directly at Oakwood Hospital, where he received treatment for injuries sustained during the altercation. 

Baydoun claims he suffered from back injuries, facial injuries and emotional distress as a result of the altercation.

“They realized they used excessive force and they were wrong in this situation. They had no right to arrest him. He committed no crimes. He was not in an area where a recent crime was committed,” said Amir Makled, an attorney at The Law Office of Cyril Hall. “They didn’t have a warrant for his arrest. He was simply coming home from work and that was all he was doing.”

The law office plans to file the complaint this week under a violation of section 1983 of the Civil Rights Acts. The law office will file the complaints on four counts: assault and battery, false arrest, excessive force and gross negligence. 

Photo of Baydoun taken a few hours after altercation.

Baydoun tells The Arab American News that he believes the entire incident could have been prevented if the police department had provided a translator for him. He claims he wasn’t aware of what the police officer was trying to do, and he feared that he would be arrested for no reason. 

“They couldn’t communicate with him and they refused to bring officers who could help assist to that effect. This is a safety concern for citizens and for the police officers. They need to hire police who can communicate with the citizens they are serving,” Makled adds. “We have a large population of  non-English speaking citizens in the city and the police department is failing to rectify that problem,” Makled adds. 

Baydoun says he wasn’t able to directly communicate with anybody until the department sent an Arabic-speaking employee to his hospital room several hours later. The Arabic speaking man affiliated with the department asked Baydoun why he “resisted arrest,” to which he responded that he only spoke Arabic and didn’t know what the officers were saying to him.

Meanwhile, the video continues to be shared and spread on Facebook and Twitter. By Thursday, it had garnered thousands of views on YouTube. Most commentators seem to be appalled at the actions of the police department, with some pointing out that they need proper training on how to handle situations with mentally instable individuals.

“I could tell by the first few seconds of interacting with the kid that he’s mentally disabled. How do you handle the situation knowing this? You tackle him to the ground and call two of your buddies to senselessly beat him up? There’s a more reasonable way to handle it. He’s obviously not a threat. These guys need more training. What a shame for the police department,” said one Facebook commentator. 

However, not all feedback has been negative. Some pointed out that Officer Balowski approached the situation with extreme caution, because Baydoun might have appeared suspicious riding his bike in a neighborhood street that early in the morning.

“I dont really see a assault case here at all. Clearly the man didn’t speak English or is mentally unstable in some way. He was asked to provide I.D. and he ignored the police officer. Then when he was asked to be checked for weapons he resisted . For the officers own protection and the public’s, he was taken down and arrested. Where the case goes from here is what matters,” said another Facebook commentator. 

Makled attests that Baydoun was not resisting arrest and believes the police department didn’t have probable cause to arrest him to begin with. 

Baydoun does not have a drivers license and has been using his bicycle to get to and from jobs for years now. The department seized his bicycle during the altercation and have still not returned it to him. 

“The behavior the police officers exhibited that day is without reason and without justification. [Baydoun] is somebody who has a limited learning capacity because of the mental condition that he has. It was unnecessary for him to have to be exposed to such police brutality,” Makled adds. 

The City of Dearborn released the following statement regarding the incident:  

“A thorough Police Department review of an incident in December 2013 involving Ali Beydoun, who resisted police officers’ lawful instructions, resulting in the necessary use of force, showed the officers acted and reported the incident appropriately and according to approved department protocols,” said the City of Dearborn.

Part of the press release claims that Baydoun had been violating several laws as he was riding his bicycle down the neighborhood street:

“What attracted the officer’s attention to this individual incident is not given on the video. Mr. Baydoun was not dressed properly for the 20 degree weather that December morning. Despite riding his bicycle in the street, his bike did not have a light and he disregarded several stop signs.  Mr. Baydoun was on a bike at 4:47 a.m. in a neighborhood that has experienced auto thefts and break-ins. It is common for criminals to use a bike when traveling to an area to steal cars. Autos have been stolen in cold weather when owners start them, but leave them unattended to warm up.”  

The city also indicated that Baydoun’s family told police at Oakwood Hospital that he did not have any sort of mental condition. 

On Thursday afternoon, a press conference was held at The Law Office of Cyril Hall in conjunction with the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI).

CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid told reporters that he wasn’t familiar with the case until he had seen the video posted online. He was disturbed by the actions of the police officers. 

“When I watched the video I was horrified by what I saw,” Walid stated.

Walid said that CAIR-MI has filed a complaint, separate from the lawsuit, with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Walid added that he was disappointed with the city’s response to the video, stating they should have re-examined the incident before they justified the actions of the officers.

“Instead of saying that they would re-look at the incident that took place, they basically doubled down and justified the behavior of those police officers. I don’t see under any circumstance that they can say someone can potentially be a criminal just by the way they are dressed,” Walid stated. “I don’t see any justification that any police officer can have in kicking a man while he is laying down on the ground unarmed.”

Cyril Hall told reporters that there were some inaccuracies in Dearborn’s press release. He says that the law firm’s research indicated that no reported crimes or car thefts had taken place in the area prior to the altercation.