A Detroit-Area Officer Who Punched Jaquwan Smith After an Arrest Pleads Guilty

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali.
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC

African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie

Kidnapped: The Middle Passage

Image of the first black members of Congress

Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom

The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200

One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice

NOW: Free At Last?

Memorial to the Victims of Lynching

The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall

Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville

Special Exhibits

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Click Here

Ways to Support ABHM?

Click Here

April 9, 2024

By Associated Press

Matthew Rodriguez acknowledged using “unreasonable force” against the 19-year-old while processing him in the fingerprint room at the Warren jail in June.

Footage from video captured now-former Warren Police officer Matthew Rodriguez (right) punching Jaquwan Smith (left), a man under arrest, in the city jail’s fingerprinting area, then slamming his head against the floor and pushing him into a cell. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube.com/Detroit Free Press)

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit police officer who punched a young Black man in the face and slammed his head to the ground pleaded guilty Monday to a federal civil rights violation.

Matthew Rodriguez acknowledged using “unreasonable force” against the 19-year-old man while processing him in the fingerprint room at the Warren jail in June. He also admitted that he made false statements about the incident.

Jaquwan Smith “was not physically resisting arrest or attempting to escape,” Rodriguez’ plea agreement states.

Continue the article.

Learn how we can work to achieve racial repair and reconciliation.

Read about Louisville police using excessive force on a Black man and a Black man, wrongfully imprisoned for 16 years, who was then shot and killed by police in a traffic stop.

Find more breaking news like this.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.