DETROIT – A former Detroit police officer is facing two new lawsuits, one of them involving allegations of police brutality.
It’s round two of the former Detroit police Officer Gary Steele’s soap opera. A video recorded May 31, 2018 allegedly showed Steele, who is accused of breaking Elaine Murriel’s arm while trying to arrest her, after she got into an argument with the girlfriend of her son’s father.
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said officers arrived and handled the situation. Fieger said Steele showed up later allegedly arrested his client and broke her arm in the process, “Elaine’s arm was fractured. She had an operation,” said Attorney Geoffrey Fieger.
Almost a year later, Fieger and his team of attorneys are suing the city of Detroit and Steele for his involvement in this case and the infamous Snapchat video. That video showed Steele using racial slurs to describe his client Ariel Moore.
“What happened here was a gross violation of not only the state civil rights and negligence, that we alleged in these complaints,” said Fieger.
Friday morning, Fieger released both lawsuits. Moore is suing for $75,000, and Murriel is suing for $25,000.
“When it costs them money, then they start making changes and that’s the purpose of these lawsuits,” said Fieger.
Chief James Craig addressed the lawsuits Friday.
“We are aware of it. As you know, as it relates to the first lawsuit, we did an investigation and the officers were terminated. As it comes to the second lawsuit, that is being investigated by the Internal Affairs.”
Fieger also accused DPD of hiding the 2018 incident. Craig said that’s not true.