Cop Fired for Stomping and Elbowing Handcuffed, Non-Violent Guy Gets Job Back with Backpay

On July 1, 2011, Lt. Mike Denton, a cop from Owasso in Oklahoma was filmed on video beating a handcuffed, non-violent man. Bryan Spradlin was arrested for public intoxication and as he was being transported to the police facility, Mike Denton stomped on his head while he’s handcuffed, bent his arms so far back as to likely cause permanent rotator cuff damage, and then elbowed him in the face three times.

Because the assault was caught on both CCTV and officers’ lapel cams, and the video went viral, Mike Denton was fired. However as of April 15, 2014, his termination was changed to a written reprimand, and Denton was reinstated with back pay and all benefits.

Mike Denton returned to work on September 22, 2014, keeping his rank and position. In other words, this man whom you see in the video below assaulting a handcuffed, non violent guy, is back on the street with a badge and a gun. But what he has now is the encouragement from the experience which taught him that he can get away with anything, with complete impunity. Welcome to the police state!

And I’m sure this wasn’t the first time he assaulted someone, just the first time the video of it went viral. Otherwise he would never have been fired in the first place. Whatever the lies he wrote in the report about the incident would have been taken at face value, with the victim having absolutely no means to seek justice. The fact that the district attorney never pressed criminal charges against the cop speaks volumes about the system of police impunity.