MSP Trooper Caught on Video Punching Man Outside Detroit Home

A Detroit man says he was praying while taking punches from a Michigan State Police officer in his driveway. The incident involving Devin Pettway was caught on camera by a neighbor.

“I kinda was praying. I wasn’t thinking too much." Pettway tells WDIV in the video below. "I kinda was praying that he didn’t take me from my three children.” 

Officers were at the home to serve a search warrant for an incident that was not related to Pettway.

No one knew that a neighbor had been recording video of the November 6th incident. The video below shows an officer grabbing Pettway before punching him repeatedly. Pettway then took a knee to the ribs before being knocked to the ground.

Pettway tells the TV station that he met the officers in the driveway to inform them that the person they were looking for would be coming out of the house peacefully.

Troopers were responding to an incident involving an 8-year-old girl who may have been kidnapped. Pettway's sister is a resident at the home.

“He was aggressive out the gate. Like, as soon as he seen me he like he was trying to snatch me to the ground, snatch my bag out of my hand. It was like, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Pettway said.

Pettway has retained the services of an attorney. He say he never expected to be on the wrong end of police brutality.

“I see it so much. I never thought in a million years that it would be me,” Pettway said.