'Great dishonor.' Judge sentences ex-Melvindale Lt. to 6 months in jail

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Well, first of all, uh with regard to the sentence that I'm about to set forth, I want to make it clear that I have a great deal of respect for police officers. I think they have a very important and a very dangerous job.

[00:00:20]And uh I'd say 99% of police officers do their job honorably.

[00:00:28]But just like every profession, there is that 1%, that one bad apple.

[00:00:35]And that includes all professions, including politicians, doctors, reporters, maintenance workers, clerical, and judges.

[00:00:47]But the difference between police officers and all those other professions that I mentioned is they are required to carry a gun and a taser with them.

[00:00:59]So, with the prestige of being a police officer, also goes with them the severe responsibilities of not injuring the public.

[00:01:11]Unfortunately, Mr. Furman, you are one of that bad apple 1%.

[00:01:18]You have brought great dishonor, great dishonor, to those people who wear the uniform and the badge.

[00:01:29]And I'm talking about current officers, I'm talking about former officers, I'm talking about those officers that given their lives and their limbs.

[00:01:42]And you, sir, have brought great disrespect to them.

[00:01:46]You swore an oath, sir, to serve and protect.

[00:01:52]But this court believes that at the end here, that you took up an oath of terrorize and injure citizens of the state of Michigan.

[00:02:05]And I believe that the sentence that I'm I'm I'm going to go over the factors in a minute, but I believe that the sentence that I'm about to render in this case, and I understand that I don't have to follow sentencing guidelines, but I believe the sentence I'm about to render is reasonable.

[00:02:21]I think it protects society.

[00:02:25]It proper discipline. It's proper rehabilitation.

[00:02:35]It's proportional.

[00:02:37]It properly disciplines the wrongdoer.

[00:02:40]It has a deterrent effect, a rehabilitative effect.

[00:02:45]And it's a fair sentence and fair punishment, and it's reformational.

[00:02:55]Now, I want to go back to some of the facts with regard to this case.

[00:03:00]We've got a case where a police officer pulls somebody over.

[00:03:04]And and they shouldn't have been out driving. Mr. Williams should not have been driving.

[00:03:09]>> [clears throat] >> But he didn't have a driver's license, no proof of insurance, and improper plates.

[00:03:16]But he also had two little children in the backseat with him, and he had a woman on the other side.

[00:03:23]And instead of calling for backup or bringing other people in, and was Mr. Williams great? No.

[00:03:31]He But I'm sure a lot of citizens out there at times have given issues. And I want to remind everybody that this was not a rookie police officer. This is somebody who had 14 years experience and was a lieutenant.

[00:03:47]He should have known better than what he did.

[00:03:50]And that's what's really concerning. And I'm going to talk about his record, too, in a minute. But, um he continued continued as as Mr. Williams screamed out in pain, continued to tase him.

[00:04:10]And the court saw no reason for that tasing.

[00:04:14]And uh he's also calling the man a [ __ ] And he's calling him a [ __ ] Again, why? What What police officer with 14 years experience and uh a lieutenant does that? He has his fellow lieutenant say, "Hey, man, stop.

[00:04:34]Stop."

[00:04:36]"I got this under situ- I got this under control. Don't worry." He keeps it up.

[00:04:41]And then he takes the man's head and it Whether he bashed it or he pushed his head against the fire engine. Just complete disrespect of the citizens of Wayne County and of the state of Michigan.

[00:04:56]But, then you add into this that you've got back in 2019 he entered into a no contest plea of a public officer willfully neglectful of duty.

[00:05:09]And in that uh situation he causes a man who apparently was intoxicated to fall down the stairs.

[00:05:17]Then as soon as we get done with this trial he enters into another guilty plea where he uh was convicted of assault and battery. In this case, he was convicted of both common law offense and also assault and battery. Then he has another assault and battery where the individual who was driving was at fault as far as he's stolen a car and he's fleeing from the but it looked when the court looked at the tape of it, it looked like the officers had the man under control.

[00:05:55]And according to the pre-sentence report, I saw him striking his leg. I didn't I didn't count it, but I'm relying on the pre-sentence report. Says he kicked it he stomped on his leg eight times.

[00:06:10]Eight times.

[00:06:14]Shows complete disrespect for the citizens of this county, of this state, and also his fellow officers. Cuz as I watched all them in all the other tapes, none of them were acting like this. They were all cool, controlled, and they were 90 they were like the 99% that I'm talking about I respect.

[00:06:58]Therefore, with regard to the common law offense, I am going to order that the defendant is sentenced to 3 years probation with the first 6 months in the Wayne County Jail. He is to receive one day jail credit served.

[00:07:24]He is also to undergo anger management.

[00:07:27]He is to have a psychological evaluation.

[00:07:31]He is um to waive confiden confidentiality and allow any treatment program that he's required to attend to disclose information to field agent.

[00:07:44]He is not to have verbal, physical, or electronic contact with Mr. Williams either directly or through another person and must not be within 500 ft of his residence, school, or place of employment. He is to obey all court orders. He is not to engage in any assaultive, abusive, threatening, or intimidating behavior.

[00:08:07]He is not to have verbal, written, electronic, or physical contact with anyone who's housed within an MDOC facility without permission of the field agent.

[00:08:18]He is not to use any object as a weapon.

[00:08:21]He is not to own, use, or have under his control or area of control a weapon of any kind or any imitation of a weapon.

[00:08:29]He is to allow the field agent into his residence at any time for probation supervision.

[00:08:35]He is to submit to a search of his person and property, including but not limited to his vehicle, residence, computer, without need of a warrant if the field agent has reasonable cause to believe you have items which violate the conditions of your probation.

[00:08:51]He is to make genuine efforts to find and maintain the legitimate employment of minimum 30 hours a week.

[00:08:58]He is to pay crime victims assessment amount of $130, $30 a month supervision fee, court costs of $1,300 and uh state costs of $50, and he is to have DNA testing and pay the mandatory $60 fee.

[00:09:22]Now, I'll move on to the sentencing.

[00:09:25]That's with regard to the common law offense. With regard to the assault and battery, I'm going to order that he be placed on 2 years probation with the first 60 days in the Wayne County Jail that will run concurrent with the other sentence. And he is to uh complete all the other issues that I've already addressed with regard to the common law offense other than he still he'll be required to pay a crime victim's assessment amount of $130 and uh $818 state cost with regard to that.

[00:10:04]Now, counsel, would counsel like to address anything else with regard to the other case?

[00:10:15]The other sentencing?

[00:10:16]>> No, no, not with the people.

[00:10:17]>> Anything additional you'd like to say with regard to the other case?

[00:10:20]>> No, there's a sentence agreement in place, Judge. We'd ask you to adopt it.

[00:10:23]>> Okay. And uh Mr. Furman, this is your opportunity if you'd like to speak in that case, you can. If not, you can remain silent.

[00:10:31]>> I'll remain silent.

[00:10:32]>> All right.

[00:10:34]So, with regard to the case ending in 7620, this was a sentence agreement. The court is going to adopt that sentence agreement. I'll order that the defendant is placed on 1 year probation. He is not to possess any weapons during his term of probation. He is to have no contact with the victim, Christopher Krusac.

[00:10:56]I'll spell that. K R U S A C.

[00:11:01]He is also to pay a crime victim's assessment amount of $130 and state costs of $118 and have the with between the three have the DNA testing and the $60 fee.

[00:11:18]Is there anything else we need to take up with regard to Mr. Furman's matter?

[00:11:22]>> No, I have nothing with the people.

[00:11:25]>> And each one of those cases he'll receive 1 day jail credit served on all cases.