A violent power-tripping cop from Michigan who spent years abusing citizens while receiving promotions was fired last week after the latest lawsuit against him resulted in a million-dollar settlement for a Black man he had tasered repeatedly during a traffic stop in 2024.
“You’re losing your job, bro!” said Drakkar Williams after he had been tasered for more than 40 seconds.
“I’m not losing anything,” responded Melvindale Police Lt. Matthew Furman.
But less than two years after his abusive arrest, Williams was proven correct, local media reported.
Furman is also facing criminal charges stemming from the incident, along with two others. He is also facing another pending lawsuit from one of those criminal cases from a Black woman named Alicia Cook, who was pulled out of her car and tasered when she took too long to provide her identification in 2024.
Furman’s criminal trial is scheduled for April, where he is facing three felonious counts of official misconduct, two counts of felonious assault, and three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery, which could send him to prison for many years.
If convicted, his 14-year career of abusing citizens and destroying lives — while generating hundreds of thousands of dollars for the city by impounding cars — will come to a well-deserved end.
But Furman has pleaded not guilty and appears confident he will win since he has pretty much gotten away with the abuse for so long, even though much of it was documented by his own body camera. The police union has also filed a grievance against the police chief, accusing him of terminating Furman without due process.
David Robinson, the attorney representing Williams and Cook, describes Furman as a “racist and a corrupt cop having a reputation for being highly abusive and overly aggressive,” in the lawsuit that was just settled for a million dollars.
The seven-figure settlement led Melvindale’s insurance company to drop the city as a client, citing too many lawsuits against it. Now the city is scrambling to find a new insurance company, according to local media.
“It’s quite significant,” Robinson said. “The fact that the city will not have a carrier to protect it from its own employees, frankly, puts the burden and the financial responsibility back on the city. They become self-insured.”
Watch the video of Williams’ arrest below.
‘You’re Going to Lose Your Badge’
Williams’ arrest took place on July 20, 2024, after Furman pulled him over for driving around barricades in his neighborhood. In the car with Williams was his girlfriend, sitting in the passenger seat, and two small children in the back seat.
However, the video shows Williams provided Furman with a fake name after telling the cop he did not have any identification on him, apparently because he had a warrant for his arrest.
The video shows Williams asking for a supervisor after Furman began escalating his tone in his usual condescending manner, but Furman responded by telling him he was the highest-ranked cop under the chief.
After another cop arrives, Furman orders Williams to step out of the car, which he does. Furman then orders him to place his hands on the car’s roof, which he also does.
But then Furman orders him to place his hands behind his back while Williams is telling the second cop, who is holding his arms in place, that the roof is hot and burning his hands.
“Hands behind your back, interlace your fingers,” Furman orders as Williams is debating with the second cop, tasering him within seconds, never even giving him a chance to comply.
Furman tasered Williams repeatedly for 40 seconds while ordering him to “stop moving” as the Black man’s body was convulsing from the electric shocks.
“You’re going to find out,” Williams tells Furman after he is handcuffed and sitting on the ground.
“You just found out, didn’t you?” Furman responds.
“You’re going to lose your badge,” Williams tells Furman as he is sitting handcuffed on the back of a firetruck.
“I ain’t going to lose sh_t, but you’re going to lose your freedom because you’re going to jail, motherf_cker,” Furman responds.
“I’ve heard that a million times, dude, you want to be a punk?” Furman taunts Williams about telling him he will lose his badge.
“I swear to god, my lawyer is going to take care of you,” Williams says.
“We’ll see you then,” replies Furman, obviously not realizing just how right Williams turned out to be about Furman losing his job.
‘Your Conduct Warrants Termination’
At one point, while sitting on the back of the fire truck in handcuffs, Williams stands but makes no threatening move, but Furman grabs him by the hair, forcing him to sit back down again.
“Sit the f_ck down,” Furman says while pulling his hair.
Robinson, the attorney, described Furman’s lies in his lawsuit as follows.
In an effort to cover up for his illegal actions Furman drafted a fictionalized version of the events in his report.
Furman first claimed in his report that Plaintiff grabbed his taser 2 times. This is a lie.
Second, Furman claimed in his report he observed the Plaintiff’s “right arm lowering toward the front of seat.” Again, this is belied by the body cam footage.
Third, Furman then claims the Plaintiff refused to put his hands on the roof. This is yet another lie.
Fourth, Furman claims when tasering Plaintiff Plaintiff is struggling with him and Rahman. This is another lie designed to attempt to cover up his illegal use of the taser.
Once again Furman claims Plaintiff grabbed his taser. This is belied by the body cam.
Fifth, Furman admits to grabbing Plaintiff’s hair but fails to memorialize how he banged Plaintiff’s head into the back of the fire truck.
This is a willful omission knowing such use of force to be totally unjustified. As depicted on Furman’s body cam when Furman is pounding Plaintiff’s head into the back of the fire truck Paintiff is contained and handcuffed with his hands behind his back.
Furman, who has been described by local media as “Melvindale’s most polarizing police officer,” has claimed in the past that he is just “proactive” to justify his abuse.
But Wayne County prosecutors view his proactive style of policing as acts of criminal activity in describing the charges against him.
In 2018, former Melvindale Police Chief Chad Hayes filed a lawsuit, accusing Furman of engaging in “repeated incidents of police brutality.”
The former chief also accused Furman of towing an excessive number of cars in order to raise revenue for the city, claiming the rogue cop was responsible for 80 percent of all impounded cars, generating $500,000 in revenue.
But Hayes claimed he was fired for trying to keep Furman’s aggressive actions in check, even though he was awarded an undisclosed settlement.
However, now that the city’s insurance company has dropped them as a client, the city of Melvindale no longer views Furman as a revenue-generating asset.
“I am writing this letter to inform you that I have made the decision to terminate your employment from the City of Melvindale Police Department,” Chief Chris Egan wrote in a letter dated Feb. 11, according to local media.
“It is without question that your conduct warrants termination for cause.”
