A Cleveland-area police officer was convicted of assault and interfering with civil rights for punching and attacking a Black man during a 2017 traffic stop.

A jury found Michael Amiott guilty Friday on those two counts and not guilty on a second assault count.

Dashboard and cellphone camera captured Amiott beating Richard Hubbard almost as soon as Hubbard stepped out of his vehicle in Euclid, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Cleveland, on Aug. 12, 2017.

Amiott claimed that he acted in self-defense and that Hubbard resisted arrest. Hubbard said he stepped out of the car and turned around as Amiott instructed, but his actions were still answered with an aggressive takedown and a flurry of punches.

“I never touched the officer,” Hubbard testified earlier this week. “I never even brought up my fists at the officer. I protected my face from the punches, but you can’t see it from this video.”

In Amiott’s testimony, he said he was worried Hubbard was going to reach for his gun. But the jury didn’t buy it.

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Amiott was fired shortly after the incident, but an arbitrator ruled in 2018 that he should be reinstated. The city of Euclid paid Hubbard $450,000 to settle a civil lawsuit.

Hubbard was initially pulled over for driving with a suspended license.

Amiott faces a maximum of 360 days in jail for the two misdemeanor convictions, according to Cleveland.com. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Prior to the attack on Hubbard, Amiott already had a series of excessive force complaints in his file. Two different men said Amiott pepper-sprayed them despite not being provoked in two separate 2017 incidents. He was also written up for pistol-whipping a driver in 2016.

Earlier this week, another man filed a lawsuit against Amiott saying he took him for a “rough ride” after a July 2020 arrest, Cleveland.com reported. Tyrez Bowden said Amiott left him unsecured in a police vehicle before driving erratically on the way to the station.

Amiott was only hired by the Euclid Police Department after he was forced to resign from the Mentor Police Department, 10 miles north, for lying in a report.

With News Wire Services



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