Michigan Cop Sentenced For Tasing Black Man For 40 Seconds

A now-former Michigan police officer who has reportedly spent the better part of two decades harassing, terrorizing and brutalizing Black people, and then mocking them when they threaten legal action over it, has been sentenced to six months behind bars for felony misconduct related to two traffic stops in 2024, including one where he used his taser on a Black man for more than 40 seconds after the man drove around barricades in his neighborhood to get home.

Meet former Melvindale Police Lt. Matthew Furman, not to be confused with the late LAPD detective from the OJ Simpson trial, Mark Fuhrman, although one could easily confuse them for more reasons than just the similarity in their names.

Furman, who was convicted of one count of misconduct in office and one count of misdemeanor assault and battery last month in one case, and misdemeanor assault and battery in a separate one from the same year, was sentenced last Friday to a total of three years probation, the first six months of which he’ll spend in Wayne County Jail, as ordered by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Mark Slavens.

From the Detroit News:

The case stemmed from a July 2024 stop in which Furman used his Taser on a man who lied to him about his identity and was pulled over for having expired insurance and driving around a barricade. Furman repeatedly tased Drakkar Williams and later grabbed his hair and hit his head against the fire truck he was sitting on after he was pulled over.

Furman also pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery for kicking a male suspect multiple times in his leg and ankle as he was secured in handcuffs. He was sentenced to one year of probation in this case.

“You have brought great dishonor to those people who wear the uniform and the badge,” said Slavens, who also called him “a bad apple.” “You swore an oath, sir, to serve and protect. This court believes that at the end here that you took up an oath to terrorize and injure citizens of the state of Michigan.”

“You’re going to lose your badge,” Williams told Furman in video footage of his violent arrest, to which Furman replied, “I ain’t going to lose sh*t, but you’re going to lose your freedom because you’re going to jail, motherf*cker.”

As it turned out, Furman did lose his badge, but not until just several months ago, according to the Detroit News, which means a brutal cop was allowed to keep being a brutal cop despite the fact that the attack on Williams was not, by a long shot, his first police brutality rodeo.

In fact, the office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy laid out Furman’s history of misconduct in a press release, starting with an April 13, 2024, incident in which he yanked a Black woman out of her vehicle and tased her, apparently, because she asked questions about the stop instead of immediately following his demand to give him her identification.

From the news release:

At approximately 9:48 a.m., Officer Furman conducted a traffic stop of a 35-year-old Detroit woman’s vehicle in a school parking lot in the 19600 block of Wood Avenue in Melvindale for expired plates and no insurance. During the traffic stop, Officer Furman asked the woman for her identification, and she did not comply, but she continued asking him questions. It is alleged that Officer Furman then opened the driver’s side door of the woman’s vehicle and attempted to forcibly remove her from the driver’s seat. When Officer Furman failed to remove her from the car, it is alleged that he deployed his department issued taser, striking the woman in her left leg. It is further alleged that Office Furman ordered the woman and her minor children in the backseat of the car, to exit the vehicle. Medics were called to the scene to treat the woman for her injuries. 

On April 23, 2026, Matthew Furman was found not guilty by a jury on the charges of the Common Law Offense – Misconduct in Office, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison, Felonious Assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 4 years in prison, and Assault and Battery, a 93 Day Misdemeanor.

“I gave you a lawful order, and I’m concerned about my safety because you’re not doing what I told you,” Furman told the woman, identified as Alicia Cook, in footage of the stop.

“I’m worried about my safety,” Cook responded.

Apparently, there is no situation in which a cop doesn’t believe “I was in fear for my life” is a get-out-of-jail-free statement, and, unfortunately, they are proven right more often than not.

According to Atlanta Black Star, Furman was hired by the Melvindale Police Department in 2012, and since then, he has been suspended, fired, rehired, and arrested for assault multiple times, beginning in 2019. In fact, Melvindale Police Chief Chad Hayse was reportedly fired in 2016 for trying to hold Furman accountable, “in part, because the city was profiting from Furman’s policing tactics,” ABS reported. Later, Hayse received an undisclosed settlement after suing for wrongful termination.

So, even when cops try to do right, the system punishes them for it.

Maybe it’s not just about one “bad apple,” but a bad cop-protecting system of policing that is rotten to the core.

SEE ALSO:

Ben Crump Wants More Charges For Ex-Cop Who Beat Black Woman

North Carolina Cop Caught On Doorbell Camera Punching Black Woman Fired

Michigan Cop Sentenced To 6 Months In Jail For Tasing Black Man For 40 Seconds was originally published on newsone.com